The Taiwan-China-Hong Kong co-production The Assassin might be an oversight for the 2015 Oscars, but certainly appreciated more at another film festival with a reputation of higher artistic standards: 2015 Cannes Film Festival where its Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien won the Best Director award.
The film is based on the spiced up tale of a young woman raised as a killer during the Tang dynasty. Filming of the movie has taken 7 (seven) years and as the Guardian review aptly says ‘Hou’s breathtaking film is a beautiful mystery, matchlessly skilful, yet still hostage to human sentiments – and all the better for it’.
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