Coloured Judgement: Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin (2015) Frederick Blichert September 2016 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 80 Hou Hsiao-hsien’s first film in eight years was also his first foray into the wuxia genre. With The Assassin, he joins other top-tier auteurs like John Woo, Wong Kar Wai, Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, and Jia...
Resisting Authority in Masaki Kobayashi’s Samurai Rebellion (1967) Frederick Blichert June 2016 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 79 In a pivotal scene from Masaki Kobayashi’s classic jidai-geki, the ageing samurai Isaburo Sasahara stands in his empty home, having just stripped it of all of its contents. Played by Toshiro Mifune, the...
Greed (Erich von Stroheim, 1924) Frederick Blichert March 2016 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 78 What I don’t like is the persistent denial by blubbering sentimentalists of man’s basic nature. Away with those who would sterilize life, or, as they call it, ‘spiritualize’ life. - Erich von...
