REIGN OF ASSASSINS (Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, 2010)
Directed by: Su Chao-pin, John Woo
Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Jung Woo-Sung, Barbie Hsu, Shawn Yue, Kelly Lin, Wang Xueqi

Lady assassin Drizzle (Kelly Lin, Written By) knows better than anyone that it’s a jungle out there in the Ming Dynasty - every friend a traitor-in-waiting, every child ready to shank you.  But when Drizzle and her fantastic-elastic "water-shedding" sword steal the sacred remains of a powerful monk whose kung-fu mastery was encoded in his rotting bones, she makes herself a target, and must go under the knife to become...Michelle Yeoh.  Sure, why not?  That karmic “face/off” is just the first twenty minutes of REIGN OF ASSASSINS, one of the crown jewels of NYAFF 2011 and a wu xia that gives Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon a run for its money.

Reborn as mild-mannered “Zeng Jing,” Drizzle forsakes her murderous past, settles down with a humble messenger (Korean superstar, Jung Woo-Sung) and embraces her existence as the most blade-happy housewife you’ve ever seen (“You really know how to use a knife!  I've never seen such perfectly cut tofu!").  It’s all going swimmingly until one morning at the bank, when Drizzle’s old pals from the nefarious Dark Stone gang suddenly appear, threatening to drag her secret past screaming into the light.

REIGN OF ASSASSINS was a labor of love for Su Chao-Pin, whose wild-and-woolly career is being spotlit during this year’s festival.  Working alongside Hong Kong master John Woo, who served as a close advisor on-set, Su eventually credited Woo as his “co-director,” and their cross-generational collaboration yields an eye-popping, emotionally compelling spectacle.  The grotesques of the Dark Stone gang - from Barbie Hsu’s nymphomaniac bride, to Leon Dai’s “Magician” with his Technicolor dreamcoat of death, to soulful daddy-to-be Shawn Yue with his deadly acupressure needles - are a fearsome yet somehow pathetic lot.  Every vicious swordsman leads a domestic double life, past sins dog their fleet feet and the shriek of sharp steel being drawn from its scabbard is their eternal soundtrack.  Enjoy the action, but stay for the emotions: REIGN OF ASSASSINS is a wuxia with a heavy human heart.