November 22, 2007
Wong Kar-Wai was born in China and moved to Hong Kong when he was five. This obviously means he grew up watching traditional Chinese martial arts films. Everyone who was born there did. So, considering that those are always a filmmaker's first influences, it would be normal, expe...( read more)cted even, if he would to aspire to make films such as those.
...Except we're talking about a man who emantes art and beauty from anything he does. His first film, As Tears Go By, came in 1988 (one year after I was born) and it was the start of a career full of visually unique, highly stylized art films. Ashes of Time is his... I wouldn't say 'attempt', more like his tribute to the Wuxia genre. His only film that doesn't take place in the 20th or 21st century.
It isn't, however, an action film. There are two, maybe three fight scenes in the entire film. The action is shot in a largely inscrutable manner; most of the motion is blurred, and the chaotic swordplay rendered more so by the quick cutting. Wong isn't interested in action or violence so much as the idea of them. Basicly what he does is to turn something as physical and 'real' as swordplay into a dreamlike abstraction. I can't even begin to eplain how brilliant that is to me. Ashes of Time has everything any other of his films do. The only difference is that its characters live in the martial arts' world, instead of an urban, easier to relate one. Other than that they still feel love, loss and regret.
Not suprisingly, the film doesn't follow a traditional narrative but, rather, carefully unspools a number of interconnected plot threads. The common link between all of these stories is Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung) a once-active swordsman who now acts as an agent for other hired killers. As a multitude of characters pass through and by his Inn in the desert, the focus of the film moves across a number of episodes involving characters such as Yao-shi Huang (Tony Leung Ka Fai), a swordsman friend of Ouyang's, who one day gives him a gift of 'magic' wine; a swordswoman (Brigitte Lin) with a severe multiple personality identity crisis; and a blind swordsman (Tony Leung) who wants one last glimpse of his home before the final blackout.
Ouyang had abandoned his home and his true love (Maggie Cheung) in search of fame as a swordsman, and as the film unfolds we come to understand how he came to his current place in life. Cheung's character is the heart of the film, the one with more screen time, but the film would mean nothing without all of its characters, who all interact in strange, unchronological manners. The doubts and the confusion that will emerge (cause it will) from all these characters put together - at a certain point you'll find yourself completely lost, wondering who's who - won't be nice, some will find it infuriating and won't be able to fully understand its greatness after several viewings. However, the many fragments of Ashes of Time DO assemble into a clear picture. The patient and attentive viewer will be rewarded when the film ultimately reveals itself as the meticulously constructed puzzle that it is.
Ashes of Time is a gorgeous film. Even those who can't follow the story should be greatful for the fact alone that they got to see something this beautiful. Wong's poetic prose, along with hauntingly melodic music and Christopher Doyle's heavenly cinematography makes it a feast to the senses. A film of a rare and unique beauty. Even the fight scenes (shot, keep in mind, 13 years ago), beautifully choreographed, are a joy to watch and make a masterpiece like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon feel ashamed of itsef. Words are not enough not describe how sorry I am for all those who can't see the brilliance of this film.
For any Kar-Wai fan, or, in a larger picture, any Asian Cinema fan, Ashes of Time's cast is like a dream come true. I mean, can you picture Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung and Brigitte Lin together, all giving some of the best performances of their careers? Cheung is fabulous as the lead, playing the cynical and bitter Ouyeng, Leung gives what might be his most emotional performance ever as the mysterious Blind Swordsman, Lin is probably the one who shines the most, playing two characters in one and Maggie's ten minutes torward the end is the most jaw-droppingly beautiful, yet haunting and sad scene you'll ever see. If this wasn't a masterpiece, the film would be worth it for that scene alone.
May be hard to believe, but Ashes of Time recalls Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. Besides the love-it-or-hate-it reputation, both have insanely stellar casts; both use a violent genre as the launchpad for existential meditation; both concern themselves with the psychology beneath the bloodshed. And, of course, both have been called pretentious. I call them both art. A-R-T!
Share This Review
