Ashes of Time Redux

Hong Kong | 2008 re-release of the 1994 film | Cantonese and Mandarin language English subtitles | Drama/Martial Arts | M Sandwiched between the releases of Days of Being Wild and Chungking Express , Ashes of Time Redux is director Wong Kar Wai's radical take on the wuxia martial arts genre. Re-edited and re-scored in 2008, this is the definitive version of his epic masterpiece: a film of haunted, elusive characters, landscapes that mirror psychological states, and fight scenes so fragmented and disorienting they become almost anti-cinematic - all shot by WKW's visionary cinematographer Christopher Doyle. The story centres on Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), a heartbroken and cynical man who spends his days alone in the desert, connecting expert swordsmen with those seeking revenge and willing to pay for it. As Ouyang narrates his tale, interweaving the stories of his unusual clients, old friends and future foes, he begins to realise the mistakes of his own past, and how his fear of rejection may have led him to a life of exile.