Ashes of Time

1995
7| 1h40m| R| en| More Info
Released: 09 June 1995 Released
Producted By: Block 2 Pictures
Country: Taiwan
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.sonyclassics.com/ashesoftimeredux/
Info

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.

Genre

Drama, Action

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Director

Wong Kar-wai

Production Companies

Block 2 Pictures

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Ashes of Time Audience Reviews

UnowPriceless hyped garbage
Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated
Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Yashua Kimbrough (jimniexperience) Follows the life of a heartbroken middleman for hit-men, Ou-yang, through his now and memories of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring (and is probably the movie to inspire Kim Ki-Duk's "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … Spring") … Also touches on the life of Huang Yaoshi , whom is the center of many love interests during the year's drought------ WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS ------Spring: Huang pays a visit to Ou-yang every Spring every year. This time he comes with a gift, a magical wine with the ability to make the drinker forget his memories. Huang travels around the desert to share his wine, and stops by his childhood friend's house to share the gift with him too. His friend turns it down and vows to kill Huang if they were to ever meet again , but the friend will fall to the curse of blindness soon afterwards ..Ou-yang receives a job from a mysterious person named Murong Yang - to kill Huang Yaoshi for seducing then abandoning his sister. At the same time he's contacted by the little sister to kill her brother Yang, fore he won't allow her to be with Huang. The little sister goes into hiding after she receives a death note from Murong Yin, whom claims she is the real lover of Huang's. After a confrontation with Murong Yang he learns the brother is both Yang and Yin - a severe case of multiple personality disorder ….Summer: Ou-yang is visited by a poor woman who wants to avenge her brother who is slain by a group of bandits. At the same time he is visited by a blind swordsman (Huang childhood friend) who's in need for some extra cash. Ou-yang hires him on the job to fight the bandits .. and as the two await the fated day they reminisce over their love life, their lost loves of the past . Ou-yang lost his love to his brother because he couldn't confess his feelings towards her, the blind swordsman lost his wife to Huang ….Fall: Ou-yang stumbles across a skilled but poor swordsman by the name of Hong Qi. He was warned by a fortuneteller a man named Qi will come into his life and shake up his foundation, so Ou-yang is cautious from the beginning. He gets his new recruit some shoes and they go off to gather requests from the local townspeople. Hong Qi takes the poor woman up on her offer to finish off the last of the bandits, and the job costs him his finger. With new money in his pocket but a lost in skill in swordplay , he decides to depart and travel the mountainside with his wife . Ou-yang becomes envious as they depart, fore he once was in the same position with the woman he loved ….Winter: Ou-yang travels to the homeland of the slain blind swordsman to deliver his dying message to his wife. As he leaves the mountain he reflects on the meaning of "peach blossoms" both the Blind Swordsman and Huang keep speaking off. He suddenly has a realization on why Huang comes to visit him every Spring ..Huang secretly loves Ou-yang brothers wife, and he knows she secretly still loves Ou-yang. Huang visits Ou-yang as an excuse so he can visit Ms. Blossoms, because she wants updates on how he's living. When she passes away she gives Huang a magic vase of wine to give to Ou-yang, with the power to rid of his memory of her …Spring: As Ou-yang waits for Huang yearly visit, he learns of his lovers passing. He understands Huang only excuse for visiting was to go see Miss Blossoms, therefore he'll probably never return again. Ou- yang , overcome with thirst one night, decides to drink the entire vase of magic wine his love left for him. Instead of eliminating his memories, it makes him remember more and more ; in the end he makes the bold decision to turn a new leaf and start his life all over again9/10
Paul Magne Haakonsen "Ashes of Time" is a definitive movie in this particular genre that should be on the shelves of any movie collector - especially those who are interested in Asian movies.The movie, though it is labeled as a martial arts epic, is driven more by the storyline, the acting and the dialogue, than it is by the actual swordsplay and martial arts. And this was a risk on director Wong Kar Wai's part - but a risk that was well worth it in many ways. Because the end result is a heavier movie that punches harder and leaves a lasting impression.Not only is the movie driven by an appealing story that is riveting and captivating, but the movie also has a good amount of iconic Hong Kong actors and actresses on the cast list; Leslie Cheung (playing Ou-yang Feng), Tony Leung Chiu Wai (playing the blind swordsman), Bridgette Lin (playing Mu-rong Yin/Mu-rong Yang), Tony Leung Ka Fai (playing Huang Yao-shi) and of course Maggie Cheung (playing the woman). It is indeed a grand ensemble of acting talents put together in one movie. And especially the performance of Leslie Cheung - whose death was a hard blow to Hong Kong cinema - really put on a marvelous performance in "Ashes of Time".The dialogue is good and fluently, keeping the movie well up in pace. And the dialogue is a great core of the movie, so it is an important aspect of the movie, an aspect that just has to work out. And it did!"Ashes of Time" is also a visually spectacular movie, filmed on location in the harsh deserts of western China, near Mongolia. And the scenery tells a thousand tales in this movie, and it is in itself a major center piece for the movie.If you haven't seen "Ashes of Time" by now, I can only encourage you to get to it, because this is a very important and defining movie in Hong Kong cinema. This movie is breathtakingly exceptional in many ways.
Enchorde Recap: A lone swordsman, living in the desert and acting as an agent to other swordsmen, recollects how his life turned out to be as it is. It started with that the woman he loved chose to marry his brother instead, causing him to leave his home town. One of the swordsmen is Huang who is himself in the middle of a complicated love story, where a woman wants to have him killed for having ran away from a promise to marry her younger sister. But the sister wants to hire a swordsman to have Huang protected, and everything is put to an edge when the woman and her sister is really the same person.Comments: I've seen the Redux version released in 2008 of the original that was released in 1994. How the two versions differ I can't say, but the Redux is very heavily stylized in the way of Chinese Wuxia action. That is unfortunate as that style to me seems to have forgotten one of the most important elements of a successful and entertaining movie. A comprehensible story. But true to its style scenery and visual elements seem much more important and much more in focus of writer and director Kar Wai Wong. Therefore there are lots of colorful, very beautiful scenes, that are completely unrelated to the story.The editing and timeline of the story is also mishandled. Much is left out in the scenes, the time line is broken and rearranged in a confusing way. Very slow and calm scenes are suddenly relieved by surprisingly brutal and seemingly unmotivated fights, only to themselves being relieved by something else and unrelated. The result is a confusing and very uninteresting movie.Thanks to these brutal but very few fights, the movie is put into the action genre. The poster and photographs also imply this but could almost be regarded as false marketing. Only a few minutes out of the 90 could be considered as anything like action, the other couldn't be farther away from it. The movie in its entirety is very slow, dull and hence very boring. Not even the rare action filled scenes help since they are so disconnected from the rest of the movie.I might say that I'm not a fan of this Chinese style, since they often seem to be afflicted of these same problems, most importantly that the visual is more important than the story, but Ashes of Time Redux is perhaps the worst example I've seen.3/10
NMFilmgirl "Ashes of Time Redux" is Wong Kar Wai's venture into the martial arts genre. However, energetic action and narrative clarity take a backseat to the visual poetry that contemplates wounded hearts, loneliness and the memories of lost love that cut deeper than any sword. Best appreciated as a sensory experience, "Ashes of Time Redux" unfolds as a series of beautiful yet melancholic images like the soft brush strokes of a Chinese landscape painting. Even the sword fights are shot as swirling, hallucinatory dreamscapes. The haunting desert landscape gorgeously captured in saturated colors by cinematographer Christopher Doyle, a brooding cello score by Yo-Yo Ma and the beauty of the actors (an all-star Hong Kong cast) contribute to a movie experience that both pleases the senses and engages the heart.