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 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.

Cast

• Leslie Cheung - Ouyang Feng, a.k.a Venomous West
• Brigitte Lin - daughter of Murong clan
• Maggie Cheung - wife of Ouyang Feng's brother
• Jacky Cheung - Hong Qigong, a.k.a North Beggar
• Tony Leung Chiu Wai - Blind Swordsman
• Tony Leung Ka Fai - Huang Yaoshi, a.k.a Heretic East
• Li Bai - Hong Qi's wife
• Carina Lau - "Peach Blossoms," blind swordsman's wife
• Charlie Yeung - a woman who requests Ouyang Feng avenge her brother's death

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.

Soundtrack

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

Reception

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 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."^[1]

Awards and nominations

• 1995 Hong Kong Film Awards
  • Won: Best Art Direction (William Chang)
  • Won: Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle)
  • Won: Best Costume and Make-up Design (William Chang)
  • Nominated: Best Picture
  • Nominated: Best Director (Wong Kar-wai)
  • Nominated: Best Action Choreography (Sammo Hung)
  • Nominated: Best Film Editing (Patrick Tam, Kai Kit-Wai)
  • Nominated: Best Original Score (Frankie Chan)
  • Nominated: Best Screenplay (Wong Kar-wai)

• 1994 Golden Horse Awards
  • Won: Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle)
  • Won: Best Editing (Patrick Tam, Kai Kit-Wai)

• 1995 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards
  • Won: Best Film
  • Won: Best Director (Wong Kar-wai)
  • Won: Best Actor (Leslie Cheung)
  • Won: Best Screenplay (Wong Kar-wai)

• 1994 Venice Film Festival
  • Won: Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle)

• 1997 Fant-Asia Film Festival
  • Won: Best Asian Film - Third Place

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.

References

External links

• Ashes of Time at the Internet Movie Database
• Ashes of Time at Allmovie