A couple of weeks ago, I was browsing this site for some new DVDs and I happened to read the reviews on this page, and I decided I had to watch the film again to see why opinion about it was so strongly polarized. I'm not a fan of Wong Kar Wai, but Maggie Cheung is one of my favorite actresses on the strength of her performances in "Dragon Inn" and "Green Snake", and she appears in most of Wong Kar Wai's movies, so I've seen a lot of his work. Her performance in this one is great, as are the other performances. The cinematography, especially the stylized fight sequences, is wonderful. The story is a little hard to follow, but this may be because it's not so easy for western viewers to differentiate and identify the characters, and they're repeatedly appearing and disappearing in the course of the story. Then too, the characters are only vehicles for the themes of the movie, which are basically love lost and the opportunity for love missed.

What it comes down to is I'm going to have to watch this movie again. And that's why I gave it four stars.

It is a lot like "Chungking Express", just set in history. It is a slow, melancholic movie that, if you are in the mood for it, can be rather satisfying; but if you aren't, I can really understand how it can drive you mad.

I watched the "Redux" version and haven't seen the original, so I can't comment on how it has changed or if it is better... I did enjoy it for its cerebral qualities. Wong Kar Wai does do an excellent job with it and this is no different. This is as close to wuxia as the art house crowd will ever get, and as close as the wuxia crowd will ever get to the art house.

One of the best most awarded films and one of the most deep explorations of loneliness and sorrow, justly ranking among the best produced Hong Kong films of the 90's, this mysterious and sensual portrayal of sadness and melancholy is often mistaken for the typical swordplay action film, disappointing and even boring the fans of the genre. But make no mistake: This is an Art film in capital letters, a profound and oblique vision within the human soul, based on a non-linear development, flashbacks and voiceovers, with total character emphasis, expressionist camera and enveloping soundtrack, about the pain and intense regrets of the past and memories. The Wuxia film people expects, happens to be only the scenario for this striking epic tale about the meditation of love and the scars of the soul. Never the less, the mysticism provided by the ancient period and the arid landscapes, added to the skilled but tormented master swordsmen stereotype, is the essence and main appealing of the film. The action sequences by Sammo Hung are few and registered in a very particular and hard to digest fashion, like slow motion or kinetic blurry sequences, serving only the purpose of proving dramatic consequences or graphic portrayals of some characters.

Wong Kar Wai's sole intrusion in the popular Wuxia genre and recasting to the martial arts conventions, transcends the usual plot about honor, revenge, or the interminability of the spirit as a mere vehicle for showdowns and violent climax and vindication. Instead, he uses his incredible talent in creating a beautiful, dreamlike and stylized composition about memory, the irretrievability of the past and the consequent impossibility of love and happiness. The affecting enigmatic performances, the atmospheric stirring music, and the mesmerizing imagery of sterile alienating landscapes, are beyond known emotional levels for the genre, and the names of Kurosawa and Leone come out as a possible influences, mostly because of Christopher Doyle's gorgeous and lyrical cinematography providing lavish visual poetry, as composer Frankie Chan (known as the Manchu prince in "The Prodigal Song") creates the definitive Wuxia soundtrack, painting the atmosphere with delicate and sad sound layers accompanying the moments of deep revelations, or the loud rhythmic war fanfares of the epic battles.

The flaw of this otherwise perfect masterpiece, is that it requires more than one view to integrate the amount of apparently diffuse elements of the non-linear and flashback style of the movie, as it is intellectually demanding and highly stimulating. After the second or third viewing or a previous study of the plot, the experience can finally be rewarding, and once you're there, there's no turning back, as this movie steals your heart. Because this movie lacks of a single storyline, but it's based instead on different but connected characters and their memories, I would like to provide a short profile on each one for better understanding of the plot and the degrees of profundity:

- Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung): Once known as Evil West, Feng ekes out a lonely existence as a hired sword and agent for other assassins in a remote desert abode. Getting on years and tormented by memories of lost love, he's the main narrator of the story and the connection between other characters. Cinic and Haunted by the past.

- Huang Yaoshi (Tony Leung): Evil East, Ouyang's old friend and fellow swordsman, the emotionally crippled hero appears one day in Ouyang's home with a bottle of magic memory-erasing wine, as he drowns his lovelorn misery in it. Lonely and northless.

- Murong Yan / Yin (Brigitte Lin): A woman with a split personality (Yan, the brother and Yin, the sister) and a wounded soul, Yan hires Ouyang Feng to kill Huang Yaoshi as he betrayed his sister. Later, Yin also tries to hire Feng to kill her brother Yan, in a fair display of insanity and despair. Hungry for affection.

- The Girl (Charlie Yeung): One day, the shy but determined Girl visits Ouyang Feng to ask him for revenge against the soldiers who killed his brother, with nothing to offer but a basket of eggs and an old mule. Feng declines, so she stays outside for days waiting for someone who can help her. Sad and vulnerable.

- Blind Swordsman (Tony Leung): A colleague of Feng and Yaoshi, this enigmatic and sad character is looking for work as an assassin to raise money to return to his hometown and see the peach blossoms before he goes completely blind. Nostalgic and abandoned.

- Hong Qi (Jackie Cheung): A barefoot beggar with incredible fighting skills, he is often used by Feng in some dirty works. He is in searching of his old self before he got involved with Feng's business and cynicism, and he found in The Girl outside Feng's house, the opportunity for redemption. The only optimistic character despite the circumstances.

Those are the basic characters, and their stories and relationships are developed as the movie moves forward in several climaxes for each one, as well as other secondary but also important appearances of Maggie Cheung and Carina Liu as abandoned lovers, bring some sense and connection to the drama.

Finally, please don't get me started on any DVD, VCD, or even VHS edition of this outstanding classic. The only decent edition of "Ashes of Time" is the MEI AH Hong Kong DVD, actually the Laser Disc translation with imbedded English/Chinese subtitles , 1.0 mono, and not even a scene selection. Now wait, you think that's bad, the US edition is a total mess.

GOOD NEWS!!!!!! On October 10 2008, Sony Pictures will release "Ashes of Time REDUX", a new remastered version with extra footage and new soundtrack. I've heard it's quite amazing, as it was already released in other countries.

I don't care how beautiful a movie is if it fails to entertain, and this movie is so mind-numbingly boring any discussion of virtuoso cinematography and lavish set designs is pointless. This movie would put even the most ardent HK film-fan to sleep.

Anyone who has ever read reviews of this director's work will rarely, if ever, find words like fun, fast-paced, riveting, exciting or even entertaining. Instead we get descriptions that contain words like langurous, brooding, convoluted and my personal favorite from the lexicon of arrogant critic-speak, challenging. These are all just euphemisms for "boring", which is how all of Wong Kar-Wai's incomprehensible, supremely self-conscious, snore-inducing vanity pieces can be described.

MASTERPIECE
Containing all the elements that make a film a masterpiece, the Hong Kong version of Ashes of Time is a lesson in filmmaking brilliance. Multi-dimensional plots with sub-plots make this film far too advanced and mind-boggling for the normal Wuxia fan. Indeed, much of the film's extraordinary elements will not be appreciated or even recognized by them. Not that they CAN'T appreciate the film - it's just that they're going to actually have to put forth some effort!

For the more artistic, creative, and thought-provoking individuals who enjoy an intriguing storyline, good writing, character depth, creative camera angles, and emotionally moving performances, they will be perfectly satisfied. It's one of those films that you watch over and over, understanding and learning more about it with each viewing.

THE STORYTELLER
The narration of the main character adds an incredible touch - our main character poetically and non-chalantly introduces the cast of players he meets in his lonely and dark career all the while offering his insight and feelings about his life and the lives of those around him.

KUNG-FU CHOREOGRAPHY
The martial arts presented in the film are realistic and presented in a fashion far different than what Hong Kong cinema usually serves up. Sammo Hung, who choreographed the fights, was probably as stunned and bewildered as the viewer is left when watching the martial action. Like taking a finished Rembrandt and giving it to Picasso for "a little touch up," the director in a sense massacred Sammo's beauty. Unfortunately, some will respond to this film's use of martial arts cinematography the same way most responded to what Mozart did to traditional classical music.

Hopefully Sammo felt as positive as I did with the result - flashes of techniques hidden behind stutter shutter camera shots, slow motion action sequences merged with quick impacts, and one-cut death blows that are reminiscent of the Japanese classics that was so lacking in Hong Kong cinema. For the most part, deaths occur with a realistic touch; bodies crashing into heaps, faces dropping lifelessly into the sand, blood splattering across faces. All the while the camera catches the fight scenes from incredible angles which doesn't allow you to be a TV observer. You feel as if you are IN the fray, looking past shoulders, legs, beams, table, and corners as you try to get a glimpse of the action. You get a sense of the real-life confusion and quick thinking that a real battle or duel could involve.

Without Sammo's classical attention to detail and clever positions, the amazing camera shots would not have been able to carry the fight scenes. The large-scale fights would have quite possibly ended up looking more like Jet Li's Hero - a flurry of meaningless Wushu dances where people fall by the wayside without getting hit. Beautiful and artistic as that is, Ashes of Time takes the other approach: dirty, dusty, abrupt, rude, and more efficient and effective. Minus a few obvious "assists" by minor actors, this is some of the best martial arts that I have ever seen on the screen. Most films leave you to enjoy the silly and unrealistic 5-10 minutes of battle with each foe. Ashes of Time slams you right inside of realism; a quick exchange of a warrior's favorite combination that results in a one of the participants quick death. That realism is carried over to the multi-opponent scenes as well. I found it incredibly refreshing!

THE DESERT SETTING
The Chinese martial underground brought to the desert blended with a Middle-Eastern flavor of banditry and music produces something amazing. It is a cross between the Arabian swordsmen tales and the wandering exploits of famous Chinese Heroes like Sagacious Lu and Wu Song from the Chinese literary classic, Outlaws of the Marsh. The difference being that the characters in Ashes of Time do not enjoy the fame outside their own circle - the viewer is left with the impression that each character maintains a level of mystery and anonymity. Before we are able to fully bond with the Ashes of Time players (as you do with the Outlaws of the Marsh), they are gone... another brilliant aspect of the film.

The bandits intent on revenge is the greatest of the fighting sequences. You could say that the film climaxes at this point, but I believe that it was probably done intentionally.

The desert bandits are the epitome of what Star Trek's Khan Noonian Singh (Space Seed episode and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) and his followers would have been like had Roddenberry chose to focus on their martial abilities while marooned on Ceti Alpha.

FLASHBACKS
The film features Kurosawa-like flashback storytelling taken to a higher extreme. Without letting you know if you're in the past, present, or future (and sometimes a combination of the three!), the viewer is left to their own devices to figure out where the film has taken them.

THE FILM AND THE ACTORS
This is the film you will wish you had a discussion group for. You could spend quite a few months discussing each scene in-depth, with everyone's different take on what the scenes were all about and what the director and writer were trying to say.

This is not to say that the film is flawless, but until they make a better film of this type, it will have to remain at 5 stars. The cinematography is not breath-taking to the untrained eye - it's a dust-blowing desert and looks like a giant sandstorm could bury all the inhabitants at any time. But the dunes, mountains, and sunsets are just as amazing as the lakes, forests, and temples found in other films. Browns, reds, and yellow dominate the complexion of the film and it leaves a desolate and solemn atmosphere. Apparently the Honk Kong Film Awards agreed with the beauty of the film.. this film received Best Cinematography, Best Art Director, and Best Costume & Makeup Design.

The acting is phenomenal and you have the feeling that you're watching someone's real thoughts and feelings being expressed by the cast. There are even a few rare and subtle quips throughout the film that make you smile as heroes (and you) prepare to battle evil.

Tension builds in just the right places. Soft, dreamy scenes are sometimes unexpectedly interrupted by violence, anger, or painful screams. It's a smooth emotional rollercoaster throughout the film that never quite takes you to the brink of your feelings. That assures that you you're not emotionally spent when the film ends - just a little mentally drained due to the complexity.

A sample of fantasy, legend and lore comes into play just briefly, but enough to remind you that you are not in the present day. You are in a time and place far more mysterious and ancient than our own. With a change of costumes and an extra moon in the sky, the feel of the film could have been like the futuristic and other worldly atmosphere of Luke Skywalker in his desert planet battling the sandmen...

The greatest aspect of this film is that, like Crouching Tiger and Hero, you don't have to be a martial arts or Wuxia fan to enjoy it! This is a picture that you can gather a wide-range of people and each can appreciate it on a different level.

CONCLUSION
Don't think that you will able to pop this puppy into your DVD player and just sit back and enjoy the ride. You will need the remote control close by to rewind the complicated portions of the movie that must be repeated to fully understand certain scenes or to cross-reference a flashback or two. If you're not mentally locked in, on the edge of your seat, lights off, and remote control in one hand, it will be nearly impossible to fully absorb what this movie has to offer.

This movie is best watched when you're in the mood for complicated love and passion, rogue-like chivalry, or an adventurous but isolated self-journey. It's a thought-provoking film that leaves you wondering, "Am I living life to the fullest, without regrets?" Each time you see this film you will be left longing for a trusty sword, a horde of bandits to kill, and a lover traveling and fighting by your side.