Ashes of Time

Ashes of Time
Ashes of Time

Film poster
Traditional 東邪西毒
Simplified 东邪西毒
Mandarin Dōng Xié Xī Dú
Cantonese Dung1 Ce4 Sai1 Duk6
Directed by Wong Kar-wai
Produced by Wong Kar-wai
Jeffrey Lau
Jacky Pang
Screenplay by Wong Kar-wai
Story by Louis Cha
Starring Leslie Cheung
Brigitte Lin
Maggie Cheung
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai
Tony Leung Ka-fai
Jacky Cheung
Music by Frankie Chan
Cinematography Christopher Doyle
Editing by William Chang
Patrick Tam
Distributed by HKFM
Release date(s) 17 September 1994 (1994-09-17)
Running time 100 minutes
Country Hong Kong
Language Cantonese
Budget HK$40,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue HK$9,023,583(HK)
$1,912,490 (Redux)[1]

Ashes of Time is a 1994 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai, and loosely based on four characters from Louis Cha's wuxia 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 that, despite the digital restoration, presents a shorter cut. The redux version is at the moment the only good-quality edition available on the market (theaters and home video).

Contents

Cast

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 and another of his best fighters, Hong Qigong, 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 Roel A. García, and produced by Rock Records in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It was released in 1994.

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 film.

In the New York Times, Lawrence Van Gelder also gave Ashes of Time a mixed review:[2]

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.

Awards and nominations

  • 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.

References

  1. ^ Ashes of Time Redux Box Office Mojo Retrieved 2011.07.22
  2. ^ Lawrence van Gelder, Film Review: Pain of an Aging Warrior, New York Times, May 17, 1996

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ashes of Time — Filmdaten Deutscher Titel Ashes of Time (Alternativtitel: Die verlorene Zeit) Originaltitel Dung che sai duk …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ashes to Ashes (TV series) — Infobox Television show name = Ashes to Ashes genre = Time travel Police procedural creator = Matthew Graham Ashley Pharoah company = Kudos Film Television starring = Philip Glenister Keeley Hawes Dean Andrews Marshall Lancaster Montserrat… …   Wikipedia

  • Ashes to Ashes (play) — Ashes to Ashes is a 1996 play by English playwright Harold Pinter. It was first performed, in Dutch, by Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the Netherlands largest repertory company, in Amsterdam, as part of its 1996–1997 season, and directed by Titus… …   Wikipedia

  • Ashes and Snow — by Canadian artist Gregory Colbert is an installation of photographic artworks, films, and a novel in letters that travels in the Nomadic Museum, a temporary structure built exclusively to house the exhibition. The work explores the shared poetic …   Wikipedia

  • Ashes to Ashes — «Ashes to Ashes» Сингл Дэвида Боуи из ал …   Википедия

  • Ashes of the Wake — Studio album by Lamb of God Released August 31, 2004 …   Wikipedia

  • Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie song) — Single infobox Name = Ashes to Ashes |200px Artist = David Bowie from Album = Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) Released = 1 August 1980 Format = 7 single Recorded = Power Station, New York Good Earth, London February April 1980 Genre = New Wave… …   Wikipedia

  • Ashes to Ashes (chanson) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Ashes to Ashes. Ashes to Ashes Single par David Bowie extrait de l’album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) Face B Move On …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ashes 2 Ashes — Supercbbox title = Army of Darkness: Ashes 2 Ashes caption = schedule = Monthly format = limited=y publisher = Dynamite Entertainment date = July 2004 October 2004 issues = 4 past current color = writers = Andy Hartnell artists = Nick Bradshaw… …   Wikipedia

  • Ashes to Ashes (Only Fools and Horses) — Infobox Only Fools and Horses episode name = Ashes to Ashes Series = 2 writer = John Sullivan director = Ray Butt producer = Ray Butt Duration = 30 minutes Airdate = 28 October 1982 Audience = 9.8 million Cast = Ashes to Ashes is an episode of… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”