Ashes of Time
I was reading about the new cut of Wong Kar Wai's Ashes of Time (Ashes of Time Redux) in the newspaper the other day. On the one hand, I'm delighted to have a new, good looking version out there (the current DVD prints look faded and dirty), but on the other, I'm sad that they decided to mess with it (NO! Don't mess with the beautiful score!) and probably won't release the original alongside the new cut. Anyway, it inspired me to watch my old DVD (I have the Mei Ah version, which while it isn't great, is much better than the World Video version) of it once again. This is one of those movies I like to watch over and over.
In fact, that's its main flaw. Ashes of Time is hideously confusing on first watching (most people don't even like it) and you may not realize it's any good at all until you watch it after already knowing the movie. I'm not a Wong Kar Wai fan (haven't watched his other movies yet) but I am a wuxia/martial arts movie fan. This is NOT a wuxia or martial arts movie. It's not an action movie. It has action sequences, but they're blurry and not there to show off the gymnastics skills of the actors. (On the other hand, they're much better than the laughable CGI sequences in certain more recent TV serials that seem to be there to show off the pretty faces of the actors while their enemies drop like flies.) I'm not sure it's even a "movie" at all. I suppose there's a plot, but it's dropped in bits and pieces not necessarily in chronological order. It's more like a painting, or a poem, or an impressionistic piece of music. Love, loss, regret, lost opportunities, ambition, the desert, chivalry, pain, confusion...played out with characters from a famous series of wuxia novels by Jin Yong (Louis Cha).
So ARE they really the characters from the Condor series? The movie's Chinese title is "Dong Xie, Xi Du" ("East Heretic, West Poison"), which refers to the nicknames of two of the characters from the Condor series. This movie purports to show how they became what they are in the actual series. In that sense, it's non-canonical. But the movie loses something if you DON'T assume they are the same characters, just people who happen to have the same names as other fictional characters. I prefer to think of it as variations on a theme. A professional-quality fanfiction that is emotionally true even if it takes liberties with the story.
The acting is excellent throughout. I was surprised at how well Leslie Cheung (whom I was used to seeing as the "kid" character in other movies) played Ouyang Feng, the cynical, rather villainous "West Poison". We have Tony Leung (Chiu Wai) as the blind swordsman, the other Tony Leung (Ka Fai) as Huang Yaoshi ("East Heretic"), Maggie Cheung as the woman (the one who married Ouyang Feng's brother), Carina Lau (the blind swordsman's wife), Charlie Yeung as the girl trying to buy revenge with a basket of eggs, Jacky Cheung as Hong Qi ("North Beggar), and Brigitte Lin as Murong Yin/Yang.
Ah, Brigitte Lin. I love Brigitte Lin. But what is it with Brigitte Lin and the gender-challenged characters? Did they cast her because Murong Yin/Yang was ambiguous that way? Or is the character like that because she was cast? Even when she's not playing someone transgender (Dong Fang Bu Bai, I'm looking at you!), she's in male drag ("Peking Opera Blues", "New Dragon Gate Inn", etc.) Is it some traditional thing? (Women played the Young Scholar roles, in certain older films, as I seem to remember - was that some operatic tradition?) Sometimes the men play women, sometimes the women play men, depending on the type of opera... In any case, that was a very interesting take on Du Gu Qiu Bai (Loner Seeking A Loss), who was a cryptic, legendary character in the novels.
So who are they here?
Ouyang Feng, whose lover married his older brother, now lives in the desert running an inn and a business as a middle-man hiring out penniless swordsmen to kill people for others. Every year, his friend Huang Yaoshi visits him. One year he brings a wine, that he says someone gave him, which has the property of letting people forget: memories are what make them unhappy. Ouyang Feng is skeptical, but Huang Yaoshi really does begin to forget. And then there's the swordsman, slowly going blind, a friend of Huang Yaoshi, but also an enemy. Who loves whom in the end? Who won, who lost? Is it love or the idea of love? Can you buy your self/honor back with an egg? The story goes between Ouyang Feng and Huang Yaoshi's points of view (I got confused about that at first). In the end (which is where we begin) it all makes sense. Sort of.
The cinematography: I don't know. It might be good. The desert landscape is very striking. But it's hard to tell because the video is so degraded on the copy I have.
The score: Wow. One of the best I've ever heard for any movie, period. GREAT GREAT MUSIC. So good they stole it for other movies/TV series. In fact, even if you hate everything else the first time you watch this movie, I hope you can appreciate the quality of the music.
Conclusion: Watch this movie! Watch it again! Enjoy it for what it is, not for what it isn't.
In fact, that's its main flaw. Ashes of Time is hideously confusing on first watching (most people don't even like it) and you may not realize it's any good at all until you watch it after already knowing the movie. I'm not a Wong Kar Wai fan (haven't watched his other movies yet) but I am a wuxia/martial arts movie fan. This is NOT a wuxia or martial arts movie. It's not an action movie. It has action sequences, but they're blurry and not there to show off the gymnastics skills of the actors. (On the other hand, they're much better than the laughable CGI sequences in certain more recent TV serials that seem to be there to show off the pretty faces of the actors while their enemies drop like flies.) I'm not sure it's even a "movie" at all. I suppose there's a plot, but it's dropped in bits and pieces not necessarily in chronological order. It's more like a painting, or a poem, or an impressionistic piece of music. Love, loss, regret, lost opportunities, ambition, the desert, chivalry, pain, confusion...played out with characters from a famous series of wuxia novels by Jin Yong (Louis Cha).
So ARE they really the characters from the Condor series? The movie's Chinese title is "Dong Xie, Xi Du" ("East Heretic, West Poison"), which refers to the nicknames of two of the characters from the Condor series. This movie purports to show how they became what they are in the actual series. In that sense, it's non-canonical. But the movie loses something if you DON'T assume they are the same characters, just people who happen to have the same names as other fictional characters. I prefer to think of it as variations on a theme. A professional-quality fanfiction that is emotionally true even if it takes liberties with the story.
The acting is excellent throughout. I was surprised at how well Leslie Cheung (whom I was used to seeing as the "kid" character in other movies) played Ouyang Feng, the cynical, rather villainous "West Poison". We have Tony Leung (Chiu Wai) as the blind swordsman, the other Tony Leung (Ka Fai) as Huang Yaoshi ("East Heretic"), Maggie Cheung as the woman (the one who married Ouyang Feng's brother), Carina Lau (the blind swordsman's wife), Charlie Yeung as the girl trying to buy revenge with a basket of eggs, Jacky Cheung as Hong Qi ("North Beggar), and Brigitte Lin as Murong Yin/Yang.
Ah, Brigitte Lin. I love Brigitte Lin. But what is it with Brigitte Lin and the gender-challenged characters? Did they cast her because Murong Yin/Yang was ambiguous that way? Or is the character like that because she was cast? Even when she's not playing someone transgender (Dong Fang Bu Bai, I'm looking at you!), she's in male drag ("Peking Opera Blues", "New Dragon Gate Inn", etc.) Is it some traditional thing? (Women played the Young Scholar roles, in certain older films, as I seem to remember - was that some operatic tradition?) Sometimes the men play women, sometimes the women play men, depending on the type of opera... In any case, that was a very interesting take on Du Gu Qiu Bai (Loner Seeking A Loss), who was a cryptic, legendary character in the novels.
So who are they here?
Ouyang Feng, whose lover married his older brother, now lives in the desert running an inn and a business as a middle-man hiring out penniless swordsmen to kill people for others. Every year, his friend Huang Yaoshi visits him. One year he brings a wine, that he says someone gave him, which has the property of letting people forget: memories are what make them unhappy. Ouyang Feng is skeptical, but Huang Yaoshi really does begin to forget. And then there's the swordsman, slowly going blind, a friend of Huang Yaoshi, but also an enemy. Who loves whom in the end? Who won, who lost? Is it love or the idea of love? Can you buy your self/honor back with an egg? The story goes between Ouyang Feng and Huang Yaoshi's points of view (I got confused about that at first). In the end (which is where we begin) it all makes sense. Sort of.
The cinematography: I don't know. It might be good. The desert landscape is very striking. But it's hard to tell because the video is so degraded on the copy I have.
The score: Wow. One of the best I've ever heard for any movie, period. GREAT GREAT MUSIC. So good they stole it for other movies/TV series. In fact, even if you hate everything else the first time you watch this movie, I hope you can appreciate the quality of the music.
Conclusion: Watch this movie! Watch it again! Enjoy it for what it is, not for what it isn't.
Labels: hk movies
posted by Taisch @ 9:17 AM
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