I saw this movie on a plane, and even on a small, lo-res screen, I was struck by the beauty; Every scene was like a painting, a living painting of sorts.
It was also slow. No, not slow, static. But then, of course it is, it is more like a painting that happens to be alive rather than a clash-bang kung-fu action-filled Saturday night entertainment.
The film deals with Nie Yinniang, an assassin so deadly, she can kill a man riding on a horse in about one second of screen time. However, she displays a troubling tendency of having compassion, not killing a target because the target is cradling his toddler at the time. Shades of Jason Bourne there. To her boss, the nun-Princess Jiaxin, this is unacceptable. If the son was there, so much the better; first kill the son, then kill the target. Problem solved. Duh! So the nun-Princess sends her to the rebellious province of Weibo. Her task is to kill the ruler of the province, Lord Tian Ji'an. Oh, and he also happens to be her cousin. The nun-Princess reasons that in this way, she will lose her compassion and become the perfect assassin again.
In the dying years of the Tang dynasty, the provinces are slowly shaking off the Imperial Court's influence, and Weibo is the most rebellious of all the rebellious provinces.
At the time, the Imperial Court is testing Weibo, persuading Weibo's neighboring province to allow the Court to set up a couple of military bases to "maintain order." Weibo has a choice of inciting a rebellion/ coup in the neighboring province, with the risk of angering the Court and inviting a military invasion, or to stand still and trust that the rulers in the neighboring province will still be reasonable enough to back away from conflict.
One of the Lord's adviser gave the advice to wait things out. Lord Tian sent the adviser away, together with the Provost, supposedly for the adviser's safety; the last one was buried alive by assassins of the Court.
Yinnian comes into the scene as the long-lost princess who was found by the nun-Princess and returned to her home. She toyed with Lord Tian Ji'an, first battling his guards in front of his son and heir, then easily battling him without killing him.
But she also learns of history, the province's and hers.
Years ago, the Emperor of the Imperial Court sent Princess Jiacheng to "secure" the problem of Weibo, but apparently switched sides and sided with the Lord of Weibo and abandoned the Imperial Court. To further solidify Weibo's position, Princess Jiacheng had planned to marry Nie Yinniang, the daughter of the Provost of the Lord of Weibo, to Tian Ji'an, son of the Lord of Weibo and a concubine.
But when the King of Ming ^_^ wanted an alliance with Weibo, Princess Jiacheng changed her plan and married Tian Ji'an off to the King of Ming's daughter, angering Yinniang enough that she stormed the King of Ming's palace.
There's also a power play with Lord Tian's favorite concubine, Huji being pregnant, and the Lord's wife trying to prevent her giving birth even if it means resorting to a mystical priest with black magic powers.
Finally Yinniang decides to follow her aunt's example and sided with Weibo, battling the Court's assassins and saving her own father. She informs Lord Tian of Huji's pregnancy. He was able to find evidence of his wife's attempt to murder Huji but refrains from killing her (his wife) outright.
Afterwards, Yinniang goes and effectively submits her resignation to her boss, to her boss' obvious displeasure.
The film ends with Yinniang escorting her father and a Japanese mirror polisher to the adviser's new posting.
The film is very still, and understandably, viewers expecting a typical Hollywood or Kungfu clang-slash movie would find this film boring.
But this film is more about the internal journey of the assassin, from an efficient emotionless machine to a more-or-less regular human being. The static framing of the scenes reflect Yinniang's state of being. At first the static scenes reflect her inner emotionless super-assassin. Ass she becomes more human and less machine, the scenes show more action and more movement.
Or something like that ^_^ The director seemed to ask the actors to show their internal emotions just with their eyes, with long scenes of actors just sitting there. HHH even seemed to deliberately avoid regular facial expression. In the one scene where Yinniang broke down and cry, she covers her face so we can't see her expression. Blwurbghuh? HHH apparently expects the audience to at least know the story, with how few expositions and information are divulged in the movie. This, unfortunately, adds to an international audience's confusion with the story line.
HHH also chose to shoot in an almost square, Instagram-ish format. I got the feeling that if possible he would've used a vertical video format, like shooting with an iPhone held upright. All the better to frame the trees and the pillars and the walls in his scenes. Something to signify being caged/ boxed in? Yinniang by her mission, her history, her emotions; Lord Tian by politics, the Court's threat of war; the Lord's wife by the threat to her power from the concubine, etc.?
A beautiful movie, a bit difficult to decipher. But beautiful nonetheless.
It was also slow. No, not slow, static. But then, of course it is, it is more like a painting that happens to be alive rather than a clash-bang kung-fu action-filled Saturday night entertainment.
The film deals with Nie Yinniang, an assassin so deadly, she can kill a man riding on a horse in about one second of screen time. However, she displays a troubling tendency of having compassion, not killing a target because the target is cradling his toddler at the time. Shades of Jason Bourne there. To her boss, the nun-Princess Jiaxin, this is unacceptable. If the son was there, so much the better; first kill the son, then kill the target. Problem solved. Duh! So the nun-Princess sends her to the rebellious province of Weibo. Her task is to kill the ruler of the province, Lord Tian Ji'an. Oh, and he also happens to be her cousin. The nun-Princess reasons that in this way, she will lose her compassion and become the perfect assassin again.
In the dying years of the Tang dynasty, the provinces are slowly shaking off the Imperial Court's influence, and Weibo is the most rebellious of all the rebellious provinces.
At the time, the Imperial Court is testing Weibo, persuading Weibo's neighboring province to allow the Court to set up a couple of military bases to "maintain order." Weibo has a choice of inciting a rebellion/ coup in the neighboring province, with the risk of angering the Court and inviting a military invasion, or to stand still and trust that the rulers in the neighboring province will still be reasonable enough to back away from conflict.
One of the Lord's adviser gave the advice to wait things out. Lord Tian sent the adviser away, together with the Provost, supposedly for the adviser's safety; the last one was buried alive by assassins of the Court.
Yinnian comes into the scene as the long-lost princess who was found by the nun-Princess and returned to her home. She toyed with Lord Tian Ji'an, first battling his guards in front of his son and heir, then easily battling him without killing him.
But she also learns of history, the province's and hers.
Years ago, the Emperor of the Imperial Court sent Princess Jiacheng to "secure" the problem of Weibo, but apparently switched sides and sided with the Lord of Weibo and abandoned the Imperial Court. To further solidify Weibo's position, Princess Jiacheng had planned to marry Nie Yinniang, the daughter of the Provost of the Lord of Weibo, to Tian Ji'an, son of the Lord of Weibo and a concubine.
But when the King of Ming ^_^ wanted an alliance with Weibo, Princess Jiacheng changed her plan and married Tian Ji'an off to the King of Ming's daughter, angering Yinniang enough that she stormed the King of Ming's palace.
There's also a power play with Lord Tian's favorite concubine, Huji being pregnant, and the Lord's wife trying to prevent her giving birth even if it means resorting to a mystical priest with black magic powers.
Finally Yinniang decides to follow her aunt's example and sided with Weibo, battling the Court's assassins and saving her own father. She informs Lord Tian of Huji's pregnancy. He was able to find evidence of his wife's attempt to murder Huji but refrains from killing her (his wife) outright.
Afterwards, Yinniang goes and effectively submits her resignation to her boss, to her boss' obvious displeasure.
The film ends with Yinniang escorting her father and a Japanese mirror polisher to the adviser's new posting.
The film is very still, and understandably, viewers expecting a typical Hollywood or Kungfu clang-slash movie would find this film boring.
But this film is more about the internal journey of the assassin, from an efficient emotionless machine to a more-or-less regular human being. The static framing of the scenes reflect Yinniang's state of being. At first the static scenes reflect her inner emotionless super-assassin. Ass she becomes more human and less machine, the scenes show more action and more movement.
Or something like that ^_^ The director seemed to ask the actors to show their internal emotions just with their eyes, with long scenes of actors just sitting there. HHH even seemed to deliberately avoid regular facial expression. In the one scene where Yinniang broke down and cry, she covers her face so we can't see her expression. Blwurbghuh? HHH apparently expects the audience to at least know the story, with how few expositions and information are divulged in the movie. This, unfortunately, adds to an international audience's confusion with the story line.
HHH also chose to shoot in an almost square, Instagram-ish format. I got the feeling that if possible he would've used a vertical video format, like shooting with an iPhone held upright. All the better to frame the trees and the pillars and the walls in his scenes. Something to signify being caged/ boxed in? Yinniang by her mission, her history, her emotions; Lord Tian by politics, the Court's threat of war; the Lord's wife by the threat to her power from the concubine, etc.?
A beautiful movie, a bit difficult to decipher. But beautiful nonetheless.