1994 ‘東邪西毒’ Directed by Wong Kar-wai
Ouyang Feng is a heartbroken and cynical man who spends his days in the desert, connecting expert swordsmen with those seeking revenge and willing to pay for it. Throughout five seasons in exile, Ouyang spins tales of his clients' unrequited loves and unusual acts of bravery.
Jet Tone Production Block 2 Pictures Scholar Films Company Beijing Film Studio Fortissimo Films Pony Canyon Tsui Siu Ming Productions
Dung che sai duk, Cenizas del tiempo, Ashes of Time Redux, Este contraveneno del Oeste, 东邪西毒终极版, 東邪西毒終極版, 동사서독 Redux, 东邪西毒：终极版, 東邪西毒：終極版, Die verlorene Zeit - Redux, Les Cendres du temps, Die verlorene Zeit
Epic heroes Epic history and literature Westerns martial arts, kung fu, choreography, cool or action-packed emotion, emotional, moving, sadness or feelings swords, adventure, battle, fantasy or fighting death, profound, symbolism, philosophical or vision historical, epic, battle, historic or fought Show All…
Dug out the original, pre-Redux version. Having seen this in its two forms a total of six times, I can safely say it really isn't that hard to follow. Tony Leung is going blind and is married to Carina Lau who is in love with The Other Tony Leung. The Other Tony Leung is in love with Maggie Cheung who is in love with Leslie Cheung. Leslie Cheung is in love with Maggie Cheung but she married his brother because he was too busy being a wandering swordsman. Jacky Cheung is a wandering swordsman who doesn't like shoes, loses a finger getting revenge for a woman in exchange for some eggs, and brings his wife along with him while he…
Without a past, every day would be a new beginning. Wouldn’t that be great?”
In hindsight, it’s so perfectly on-brand: The big-budget martial arts epic that was supposed to launch Wong Kar Wai into the highest echelons of commercial Hong Kong directors turned out to be so inscrutable that even some of his most dedicated fans struggle to make sense of it (this critic included, though I’ll try my best). A sandy and over-cranked wuxia soap opera that cobbles together so many different stories it ends up feeling more like an exquisite corpse of old suds, “Ashes of Time” unfolds as if Wong put all of his pet obsessions into a blender and let the blades sort them out where…
starting the month of love & chinese new year off with a romantic wuxia (finished WKW’s filmography just in time)!
per WCU fashion, his wuxia becomes a grainy yet fluid projection of imperial china’s internalized angst and majesty—exploring the sorcery in swordsmanship from the torn heart of regret and longing. melodrama spinning with kinetic energy and spilling the blood of sorrow, ashes of time (redux) is told through the stunningly restored tinted vignettes of leslie cheung’s memory. entailing the sensuous beauty of spiritually and physically fallen warriors, wong, doyle and their insanely treasured ensemble creates a rhythmic atmosphere of the vast gobi desert. ashes does get caught in the aesthetic of its motions and hallucinatory storytelling—i honestly can’t even recite what just happened but hey, watching tony leung chiu-wai breathe fire before obliterating a village is pretty cool.
not his best but it birthed chungking express followed by fallen angels, so no real complaints from me!
There's a reason WKW pulled his hair out while making this film and squeezed in CHUNGKING EXPRESS during production. The guy had to be stressed outta his mind making this unwieldy kung fu epic, and it shows. Thing lulls you into an obscure trance that runs like water color through a blurred, Jodorowskian hallucination. Think EL TOPO meets CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. A film so drunk on WKW's style that it practically vaunts self-parody, as if he's trying to impersonate himself on SNL. Style for style's sake is a criticism that could be applied to all of his films, but here it feels deliriously pumped full of lysergic wine, to the point of becoming this garish abstraction that never quite…
The Redux version. Shocked at how similar the two versions are. Other than the rerecorded score and the hallucinogenically color-timed images, there is essentially no difference between the two. The Redux adds some on-screen titles connecting the characters more explicitly to the Legend of the Condor Heroes novels from which they're taken, making the whole enterprise feel like backstory, like a prequel to adventures we won't see, defining these wuxia heroes as much by their romantic disasters and haunting memories as by their martial skill or arcane codes of honor.
while taking a break from editing this wkw shot and wrote CHUNGKING EXPRESS to ‘clear his head’ ... so Wong kar-wai’s way of taking a break and relaxing while making one of the best movies ever made is by making another one of the best movies ever made
Yeah this wasn’t for me, it’s really not that long of a film but it felt like I was watching Sátántangó on 1/4th speed. Honestly it reminded me of the weird experience I had with Dune where I’m watching it, but legit don’t really remember/know any of the characters besides a few main ones. It’s the same feeling when you are reading a book and you realize that the past page and a half you’ve kinda just been going through the motions and not really digesting the narrative. Normally I’d say that’s my fault as a shitty viewer, but in this instance I do think some of the the blame should be placed on the film because I did not…
"Was it worth it to lose a finger for a basket of eggs?" ~ Ouyang Feng
Before watching this, I think it is good to know that it is a "remix," if you will, of the original "Ashes of Time" that director Wong Kar-wai made in 1994 before the handover of Hong Kong to China. The filming was done mainly on location in remote areas of the People's Republic, with Christopher Doyle as the primary cinematographer and the legendary Sammo Kam-Bo Hung as the action sequence choreographer.
Because the original prints were lost after the colony's reversion, Wong re-edited and re-scored the film in 2008 so that it could be released on DVD and Blu-ray. Major differences between the two…
This is the first watch of the second to last Wong Kar-Wai film I have left to see. Being a huge WKW fanboy, this is a big deal, yet, it’s a task I’ve always rather dreaded rather than relished with anticipation. The reason? I’m not a martial arts film fan, particularly wuxia.
Almost exactly a year ago I cracked the seal on a Blu, newly arrived direct from Hong Kong, of Wong’s latest Martial Arts opus, The Grandmaster. It’s funny, looking back at that review now, I feel pretty much the same about Ashes of Time.
Here, in Ashes, I get the same sense that Wong desperately adores the genre; much like Tony Leung’s character from In The Mood for…
Wong Kar Wai is a director whose narratives are elusive and slippery. His elliptical, unconventional approach to story used to alienate me. Yet as I've matured and gained more appreciation for complex cinema, I admire his work enormously. His liquid visuals melting into each other. His unearthing of profound sadness in a world of love. His messy vision deftly controlled.
Ashes of Time is not a film I could've liked a few years ago. In fact, just a few months ago, I watched the first ten minutes before being distracted and convinced myself it was likely the weakest Wong film I was going to see. Yet, having seen in as a whole, I really appreciate what it offers as it proves…
