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| mirror reflection of water |
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| Lady Tang views mirror |
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| Princess Jiacheng plays the zither. Voiceover follows - The King of Kaphen's bluebird failed to sing for 3 years. One day the Queen remarked birds sing only to their own kind. Set the bird before a mirror! The King heeded her advice. The bluebird saw its own image, and sang of its sadness, and danced, until finally, it expired. |
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| Princess-nun Jiaxin delivers Yinniang to her mother Nie Tian |
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| Nie's mother presents jade to Nie |
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| Jade was given to Princess Jiacheng when Nie was betrothed to marry Lord of Weibo, a gift from the Emperor to secure Weibo. |
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| Nie left jade amulet for Lord Tian to discover her identity. Huji, concubine, at his side. |
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| landscape from Hubei province |
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| Yinniag's mother Nie Tian and father Nie Feng commiserate about exiling daughter |
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| Lord Tian informs Lady Tian not to meddle in exile of Tian Xing |
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| mirror polisher tries to stall melee before Yinniang arrives |
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| Silver birch forest in Inner Mongolia provides extraordinary parallax effect, Lady Ti'an (AKA Jing Jing) sports gold mask. |
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| Tian Xing tends to Yinniang's wounds from the masked assassin |
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| Sorcerer Kong Kong with voodoo dolls in cahoots with Lady Tian, ultimately csasts spell on Huji causing her to miscarry |
Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien's 2015 film is certainly beautiful to watch on 35mm film. It won best director Cannes. Cinematography by Mark Lee Ping Bing is sublime in places like Shennongjia district in northwestern Hubei province. But Hou gives away little plot-wise and the impenetrable nature of the film makes even seasoned cinephiles feel like Philistines. He joins a growing list of filmmakers embracing wuxia, the medieval sword-fighting genre.
During the Tang dynasty, kidnapped at age 10 in the year 809, Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi) is taught to be an assassin by Princess-nun Jiaxin (twin sister of princess Jiacheng), to kill corrupt officials. Jiacheng sends her on a mission impossible to her hometown Weibo (Hebei province, bordering Inner Mongolia), to kill her cousin the governor Lord Tian Ji'an (first love to whom Nie was once betrothed as her intended husband). It is a case of provincial rebellion against the Tang court imperial authority. It is interesting to contemplate the relation of Weibo to the Imperial court vs. Taiwan to the PRC. Her indecision is construed as a mark of power, able to dictate her own destiny.
At the end of the day, Yinniang couldn't do it, empathy cannot be obliterated, the assassin's creed bows to the pangs of conscience.
Let's go back to the bluebird tale. Yinniang reveals that this applies to Princess Jiacheng , no one like her in all of Weibo.
