Ashes of Time

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Ashes of Time
Directed by Wong Kar-wai
Produced by Wong Kar-wai
Jeffrey Lau
Jacky Pang Yee-Wah
Written by Wong Kar-wai
Novel:
Louis Cha
Starring Leslie Cheung
Brigitte Lin
Maggie Cheung
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai
Tony Leung Ka-Fai
Jacky Cheung
Cinematography Christopher Doyle
Editing by William Chang
Patrick Tam
Distributed by HKFM
Release date(s) 1994
Running time 100 minutes
Country  Hong Kong
Language Cantonese
Budget HKD 40,000,000 (estimated)
Preceded by Days of Being Wild (1991)
Followed by Chungking Express (1994)
Ashes of Time
Traditional Chinese: 東邪西毒
Simplified Chinese: 东邪西毒
Literal meaning: "The Heretic East and the Venomous West"

Ashes of Time is a 1994 Hong Kong wuxia film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai, and based very loosely on four characters from the Louis Cha novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes.

Wong completely eschews any plot adaptation from Cha's novel, using only the names to create his own vision of an arguably unrelated film. During the film's long-delayed production, Wong produced a parody of the same novel with the same cast titled The Eagle Shooting Heroes.

Although it received limited box office success, the parallels Ashes of Time draws between modern ideas of dystopia imposed on a wuxia film has led many critics to cite it as one of Wong Kar-wai's most underappreciated works.

In 2008, Wong re-edited and re-released the film under the title Ashes of Time Redux.

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Plot

In this film, set in ancient times in China, Leslie Cheung plays an agent, Ouyang Feng, hiring famous bounty-hunters. His character is portrayed as a fallen swordsman driven by greed and heartless to both friend and foe. He was perpetually being spiteful of love as his own love history was not nearly so beautiful. His bounty-hunters came and went as was narrated by Ouyang Feng himself as based on the Tung Shu predictions.

In essence, he was a loner with little love, but the bounty hunters that worked for Ouyang Feng, like 'Blind Swordsman' (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and another of his best fighters, Hung Chi (Jacky Cheung), discovered the intangible secret of true love while Ouyang retained his attitude towards his fighters and the precious lessons that they have taught. However, the thread that runs through the entire narrative has clearly the spirit of refusal in the sense that one should reject another before he gets to be rejected in the future. To illustrate, nearly every character in this story has resorted to being selfish and malignant in order to prevent being rejected by others, be it in love or in comradeship as their individual hardships have moulded their attitude turning them into heartless and cold individuals in order to survive in the uncompromising desert where the story is set.

It has many moral implications but is less evident since the main character is Ouyang himself and most of the narration would unquestionably be centred on him.

[edit] Redux

A re-edited version of Ashes of Time was released in 2008 under the title Ashes of Time Redux (東邪西毒：終極版). Wong returned to create the "definitive version" of the film, and to give it an official release in the United States.[1]

First shown in the 2008 film festival season, it is shorter at 93 minutes and features generally minor additions including new digital color tinting, digital effects and altered music cues.[2] The redux versions removed footages such as scene of Blind Swordsman (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) killing bandits. Although early reports suggested that deleted scenes from the original movie would be included, they were ultimately not included in the release.[3]

A remastered DVD release is also expected.

[edit] Soundtrack

The music was composed by Frankie Chan, and released on 1994 as a CD, produced by Rock Records in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Critical

When the film opened in Hong Kong it received mixed reviews. Critics found it so elliptical that it was almost impossible to make out any semblance of a plot, something very rare in a wuxia movie.

In the New York Times, Lawrence Van Gelder also gave Ashes of Time a somewhat mixed (and not wholly accurate) review:

"For those who seek metaphors, Ashes of Time... presents the eye as well as the illusions of vision. One character is nearly blind. Another, a swordsman, goes blind in the middle of a horrendous battle. Two characters, Yin and Yang -- one presented as a man, the other as his sister -- are identical. And there is a brief appearance by a legendary sword fighter who hones his skills against his own reflection. For those who seek battle, Ashes of Time offers intermittent blurs of action, streaks of flying figures, flashing steel, and rare spatters and gouts of moist crimson, all washing across the screen like hurried brush paintings. Like the attainment of wisdom, Ashes of Time requires a long journey through testing terrain."[4]

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] Box office

Ashes of Time grossed HK$9,023,583 during its Hong Kong run. The tally was a huge disappointment considering the film's big budget of roughly HK$40 million.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ashes of Time Redux Press Kit
  2. ^ The Official Trailer For Wong Kar Wai’s ASHES OF TIME REDUX Arrives!, 31 July 2008, Twitchfilm.net
  3. ^ 香港制造邀陈勋奇独家解密《东邪西毒终极版》
  4. ^ Lawrence van Gelder, Film Review: Pain of an Aging Warrior, New York Times, May 17, 1996

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Wong Kar-wai
1980s
1990s
Days of Being Wild (1991) • Chungking Express (1994) • Ashes of Time (1994) • Fallen Angels (1995) • Happy Together (1997)
2000s
In the Mood for Love (2000) • 2046 (2004) • My Blueberry Nights (2007)
Shorts
wkw/tk/1996@7′55″hk.net (1996) • Hua Yang De Nian Hua (2000) • The Follow (2001) • Six Days (2002) • The Hand (2004)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashes_of_Time"
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