The Assassin (2015)

I saw this at the London Film Festival when it was new, but fell asleep almost immediately and left the screening with little to remember - except that one of the people I was with asserted that it was the worst film she had ever seen in her life.

I managed to stay awake this time, but honestly I still couldn't tell you much more about the film - e.g. who the major characters are, or what they want. I could give you a vague set of plot points and wave my hands around how they are connected, but I couldn't tell you what the film is _about_.

I suppose that all Shu Qi films are on some level about how hot Shu Qi is, but I'm not sure you need to watch this specific film to appreciate that. It is an unfathomably beautiful film in general, to be fair - absolutely luscious visuals that look more vibrant than most 4K HDR releases even in standard HD... but you can verify that by looking at the screen grabs and save 100 minutes.

To be fair, even if I was awake I was quite distracted, taking multiple breaks throughout the course of the film to faff about... but in my defence it's a very easy film to get distracted from.

I'm a sucker for an artsy wuxia film, but this is no Ashes Of Time... more like a bashful House Of Flying Daggers, too modest to expose any sentiment.