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Ashes of Time

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Ashes of Time
Film poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese東邪西毒
Simplified Chinese东邪西毒
Literal meaningEastern Heretic, Western Venom
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinDōng Xié, Xī Dú
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingDung1 Ce4 Sai1 Duk6
Directed byWong Kar-wai
Screenplay byWong Kar-wai
Story byLouis Cha
Produced byWong Kar-wai
Jeffrey Lau
Jacky Pang
StarringLeslie Cheung
Tony Leung Ka-fai
Brigitte Lin
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai
Carina Lau
Charlie Yeung
Jacky Cheung
Maggie Cheung
CinematographyChristopher Doyle
Pun-Leung Kwan
Edited byHai Kit-wai
Kwong Chi-leung
William Chang
Patrick Tam
Music byFrankie Chan
Roel A. Garcia
Production
companies
Jet Tone Productions
Beijing Film Studio
Tsui Siu Ming Production
Scholar Films
Pony Canon Inc.
Distributed byNewport Entertainment (HK)
HKFM (US)
Release date
  • 17 September 1994 (1994-09-17)
Running time
100 minutes
93 minutes (Redux)
CountryHong Kong
LanguagesCantonese
Mandarin
BudgetHK$40,000,000 (estimated)
Box officeHK$9,023,583 (HK)
US$1,912,490 (Redux)[1]

Ashes of Time (Chinese: 東邪西毒) is a 1994 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai, and inspired by characters from Jin Yong's novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes. Director Wong Kar Wai regards the film as his most important work.

Summary

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The film follows the main antagonist Ouyang Feng, from the novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes, when he is a young man crossing paths with other important characters. The movie humanizes Feng and depicts the events that lead to his descent into villainy. It sometimes completely subverts the intended meaning of the novel, as in Feng's copulation with his sister-in-law, which is depicted as sinister and taboo in the book but is shown as true love in the film; the longing for her serves as a common theme that echoes throughout the movie.

Cast

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Production

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In the 1960s, King Hu's Come Drink with Me raised the artistic level of wuxia films. Wong grew up immersed in wuxia culture. In 1972, Bruce Lee's The Way of the Dragon brought jianghu culture to the global stage.[4] In the mid-1990s, wuxia films entered a new stage. Wong selected characters from "new-school" wuxia novelist Jin Yong's novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes and created an unprecedented wuxia story.[4]

The film's story is a prequel to the novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes as it imagines the older characters when they were younger. It focuses on the main antagonist (Ouyang Feng) and humanizes him into a protagonist while retaining his despicable qualities. Feng, known as the Western Venom, crosses paths with the other powerful wuxia masters. Their backstories are depicted with great liberty and sometimes completely subvert the intended meaning from the novel.

During the film's long-delayed production, Wong produced a parody of the same novel with much of the same cast (in different roles) titled The Eagle Shooting Heroes.[5]

Using negatives from around the world, Wong re-edited and re-scored the film in 2008 for future theater, DVD and Blu-ray releases under the title Ashes of Time Redux.[6] The film was reduced from 100 to 93 minutes.[7]

Soundtrack

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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. The redux version features additional cello solos by Yo-Yo Ma.[8]

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Track Listing
No.TitleLength
1."序幕: 天地孤影任我行" (Prelude – A Lonely Heart)2:50
2."殺手生涯" (The Killer's Career)3:55
3."情慾流轉" (A Flood of Love)2:45
4."又愛又恨" (Both Love and Hate)4:15
5."幻影交疊" (Illusion)3:25
6."昔情難追" (Bygone Love)4:06
7."馬賊來襲" (An Attack by the Highwaymen)3:17
8."痴痴期盼" (Expectation)5:00
9."糾結難解" (Tangle)5:18
10."決鬥" (A Duel)3:35
11."塵歸塵 土歸土" (Dust to Dust)5:58
12."摯愛" (Sincere Love)3:11
13."追憶" (Reminiscence)3:58
14."真相" (The Truth)3:03
15."終曲: 世事蒼茫成雲煙" (Finale – Gone with the Wind)2:52

Reception

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Critical response

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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, Wong Kar Wai made an introspective film that focuses on the main characters’ inner lives rather than their martial arts performances. This decision is very rare in a wuxia film (a genre of fiction about martial artists in ancient China).[9]

In The New York Times, Lawrence Van Gelder also gave Ashes of Time a mixed review:[10]

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.

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 78% of critics have given Ashes of Time Redux a positive review based on 87 reviews, with an average rating of 6.80/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Wong Kar Wai's redux, with a few slight changes from his 1994 classic, is a feast for the eyes, if a little difficult to follow."[11] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 based on 20 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[12]

Awards and nominations

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Box office

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Ashes of Time grossed HK$9,023,583 during its Hong Kong run.

References

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  1. ^ Ashes of Time Redux. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-07-22
  2. ^ Ashes of Time at HKMDB
  3. ^ Ashes of Time at chinesemov.com
  4. ^ a b Nochimson, Martha P., ed. (5 November 2015). A Companion to Wong Kar-wai: Nochimson/Companion. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. doi:10.1002/9781118425589. ISBN 978-1-118-42558-9.
  5. ^ Bramhall, Paul (13 January 2020). "Eagle Shooting Heroes, The (1993) Review". City on Fire. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  6. ^ Koresky, Michael (7 October 2008). "The Perfect Storm: Wong Kar-wai's "Ashes of Time Redux"". IndieWire. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  7. ^ Jenkins, Mark (9 October 2008). "'Ashes Of Time Redux': Sumptuous All Over Again". NPR. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  8. ^ 'Ashes of Time Redux' stars Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Brigitte Lin
  9. ^ "How Wong Kar-wai's Ashes of Time became a Hong Kong classic". South China Morning Post. 16 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  10. ^ Lawrence van Gelder, "Film Review: Pain of an Aging Warrior", The New York Times, 17 May 1996
  11. ^ "Ashes of Time Redux (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  12. ^ "Dung che sai duk Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
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