We already know the conventions of a revenge story. But Wang I-Fan, who unleashed mayhem in Taiwan’s Legislative with zombies and pro wrestling in Get the Hell Out, sharpens the familiar formula by combining the backdrop of colonial Taiwan, martial arts, and female-led action. In Taiwan under Japanese rule, police officers are murdered one after another. The suspected killer is the Scar-faced Cat, a female assassin with cat-like agility, wielding a pair of sickles. The case is assigned to Shimizu, a Japanese officer who spends a year gradually approaching the case, twisting their fates. Emerging Taiwanese actor Han Ning trained for nearly a year to perform the demanding action sequences as the Scar-faced Cat, while Fukushi Sota, star of My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday, plays Shimizu who sets out to stop her rampage. When the truth finally comes to light, the Scar-faced Cat’s journey descends into a blood-soaked way of asura, as her razor-sharp claws tear through the screen in Midnight Passion.
Wang I-Fan is a Taiwanese filmmaker. His feature debut, Get the Hell Out (2020), which he wrote and directed, screened in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sitges Film Festival, and won the Golden Horse Award for Best Action Choreography. For his second feature, The Scar-Faced Cat: Way of Asura, he served as director, writer, cinematographer, editor, and action choreographer.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
