Wuxia of a Different Kind

The Assassin (2015) - Hou

The Assassin plays out like a overly conscious filmmaker going over the script of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and say, "OK, we will do complete opposite of what's written here, line by line." But it's Hou Hsiao Hsien. So you know he is aiming for something else entirely.

There is a complicated plot set in 8th Century Tang dynasty, in the region of Weibo where the talk of revolt against the imperial court is brewing. There is a love story somewhere and a beautiful assassin Yinniang (Shu Qi) wrecking havoc. In a beautiful crisp black and white intro, Yinniang is seen cutting her target's throat who's mounted on a horse in blinding seconds. Again, it being Hou's wuxia, action sequences are brief and often cut abruptly by the following scene without any resolution. Yinniang was taken and trained by a nun princess (the backstory we only briefly hear about) who chides not for her swords skills but the resolve in her heart because she refuses to kill intended targets when they are with their children. Just as fleetingly as the flow of the film, Yinniang is assigned to kill her cousin/childhood sweetheart Tian (Chang Chen), the governor of Weibo. Would she fulfill her mission? Or is it ever a point of the film?

Watching the Assassin is like watching the river flowing down in autumn sunset. You were watching an object reflected in golden sunlight just above the surface of the water all the way on the right corner of your eye, you were mesmerized by the sparkling, undulating water and before you realized that the object was flowing down the river all the way to the left corner of your eye and one hour and forty minutes have gone by. Hou is the kind of director who's more interested in steam rising from the ornate bathtub than his actress's beautiful naked body. His decisions are so efficient, yet it conveys everything any costume melodramas convey, without corny tears, excessive expositions and phony intrigue. He doesn't need to show the wounded bare back of Yinniang for emotional effect. We already know she is a kick-ass assassin and she will get over it with some Chinese herb patch. Sumptuously shot on film in full frame by Hou's regular cinematographer Mark Pin-Bing Lee, The Assassin is rapturously gorgeous. Shu Qi looks amazing in her black Assassin's outfit. Marvelously elegant in its simplicity and subtlety The Assassin is a true beauty to behold.

Grand Visual Master

The Grandmaster (2013) - Wong










Wong Kar Wai fans who's been waiting for this since it's first announcement back in...when was it, won't be disappointed. Even though it was Wong who initially started this Ip Man craze, given his notoriety for procrastination, his Grandmaster is the last to open after a series of Ip Man franchise. And since it's a WKW movie, Grandmaster is less about the famous martial arts master but the extreme visual fetishization of his life. There is not one frame of the film that are not screengrab worthy. Every frame, a work of art. As far as pure visual porn goes, it surpasses last year's Dredd (detractors, now is the time to speak up!)

Much like In the Mood for Love and 2046, theme-wise, we are safely in Wong territory: Unrequited love, lost chances, eternal beauty, etc. Unfortunately, because the film is based on a real life character, Wong has to resort to title cards for dates (as the timeline is heavily jumbled), hence, cramping his perfect sense of style. The unrequited love between Ip Man (Tony Leung) and Lady Gong (Zhang Ziyi) is fluidly meshed together even though they have very little screen time together. It's as much Ip Man movie as it is Lady Gong movie, who is the real tragic figure in the story. Wong paints Gong as a woman who fell victim of its time and place: she takes the burden of revenging her father(master Gong)'s death, which consumes all her strength, despite everyone's advice to walk away from the man's world and 'settle down'- no time for love, no time for life. It is that short sparring between her and Ip, that fleeting moment when their bodies mingled like two dancing flames that she cherishes forever...wow cheesy.

Seriously, that fight scene is not even the best one. The best is the one between Lady Gong and Ma San, the former pupil of/who killed papa Gong at the snowy train station, Leone style. Wong employs slightly slower shutter speed in seriously dark (the whole movie is dark dark dark) fight sequences where actors' faces and moving hands get accentuated against velvety black backdrop. The effect is close to an elegant ballroom dancing rather than kung fu. The worst are the ones in the trailers in the rain which is nothing more than an exercise in super slow-mo for a tire/windshield wiper commercial.

Since it's about these two lovebirds (who are not really lovers), everything else is just window dressing. Ip's wife and two kids never once factor in to the picture, nor does the Japanese Occupation and unfortunately, nor the Razor (Chen Chang) who takes up three meaty scenes which never develops into anything. My guess is his scenes are severely cut due to its length (the version I saw was already 2 hrs 10 minutes and seemed long). Since it's a Wong movie, I wouldn't be surprised if there already was a redux version or director's cut in the works.

All in all, it's a rapturous visual experience and on par with his later works on every level. Too bad I don't find joy in his films anymore. At some point he traded off his playfulness with static elegance, coquettishness with stoicism, humor with slow-mo raindrops. He might be back in form, but I'm not interested in what he's selling anymore.

**It's been said that the version I saw is different than the US version. The US release is shorter and more linear in structure. Keep that in mind, folks.