“The Assassin” is not a typical period piece kung fu film. While on the surface it might discover like Zhang Yimou’s “Hero or “House of Flying Daggers,” the tone and substance of director Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s work is far different. Instead of fantastical wire-fu fight scenes and kaleidoscopic melodrama, the focus here is highly tuned to visual composition, and landscape and lyrical story-telling.
Source: cbslocal.com