Director Hou Hsiao-Hsien‘s latest long-awaited movie, The Assassin, had received plenty of popularity by the end of this year’s installment of Cannes with reviews nothing short of upworthy. Point in fact, even so far as coming close to winning the festival’s highest honor, the Palme d’Or is reassuring that Hou’s new film, well over two decades in the making with close to seven years of stagnant production, will be well worth viewing when it is released to audiences next year. As such, we finally have a trailer making the rounds, offering an enchanting look into Hou‘s story from a script by Chu Tien-Wen, Hsieh Hai-ming and Zhong Acheng and based on the short story written during the Tang Dynasty with actress Shu Qi in the title role.
9th century China. 10-year old general’s daughter Nie Yinniang is abducted by a nun who initiates her into the martial arts, transforming her into an exceptional assassin charged with eliminating cruel and corrupt local governors. One day, having failed in a task, she is sent back by her mistress to the land of her birth, with orders to kill the man to whom she was promised – a cousin who now leads the largest military region in North China. After 13 years of exile, the young woman must confront her parents, her memories and her long-repressed feelings. A slave to the orders of her mistress, Nie Yinniang must choose: sacrifice the man she loves or break forever with the sacred way of the righteous assassins.
