Ashes of Time Redux Reviews

slow and arty with subtitles

This film should not be rented if you want a martial arts film, indeed, the amount of martial arts in this film though very impressive is like 5 % of the running time.

The film is very different then the usual films of this genre, the characters do get a little confusing, sometimes you wonder what is going on, there are inter-connecting stories, like 'Pulp Fiction', where the character will die and you will see why. However, there is always an explanation on screen when a story ends to explain what happened to that character.

This film is NOT dubbed, but the subtitles are really impressive, they have captured the feel and language of the characters.

This is a lovely film to watch, this is poetry, the idea of the wine that makes you forget, is a wonderful device and you will get you talking

the 'twist' ending you will not see coming makes you think.

very good, if you want a very good story, excellent photography and a film made to show how good films can be. just be prepared for a long film and very little action, but a lot of chat

RUBBISH

Do yourself a favour and give this a miss, 'Ashes of Time' is based on a very old popular chinese legend where the characters are very well known for the Chinese, for instance how everybody knows of Robin Hood in the west. So me being Chinese and that i know of the history off the characters and what they represent, even i was extremely dissapointed and was bored to death. I feel the Director tried to make this into some kind of Artsy-fartsy film but just failed miserably. Any pro points? I guess good casting is one of them, Jacky Cheung (probably the best male chinese singer) stars also.

beautiful art house film

don't rent this if you are expecting a martial arts epic as it is more european art film. fights there are but tend to be blurry, brutal and short.

however it is a beautifully shot meditation on love, loss, memory and betrayal. it has a time-twisted and convoluted plot, shown in episodes that only seems to make sense towards the end.

lots of people hate this film, even fans of the director but i love it.

Looks stunning but little else to recommend it...

Like ‘As Tears Go By’, another of his early films that seems to wonder slightly from the usual template, Ashes of Time may have the trappings of a Chinese martial arts film, but in essence it remains firmly in the familiar Wong Kar-Wai territory of an emotional and mildly philosophical drama. Fans of Wuxia movies will find little action to enjoy here as what fight scenes there are remain framed in slowed down close up that accentuates the beauty and fluidity of movement rather than a wider shot that reveals the full brutality of combat.

That reluctance to reveal the full picture is mirrored by a slow moving plot and non-linear story line that constantly leaves you wondering exactly where you are in the action. A single viewing of this film is almost certainly insufficient to fully understand who each of the characters are and how their lives interact with each other.

The plot centres on Ouyang Feng, a swordsman for hire who also acts as an intermediary between others in his professions and their potential customers. He is a man who has withdrawn from life after losing his one chance for true love. The other characters he meets in the film have taken a similar path through life but found a different outcome. It is the different outlooks and fates of these people that are used by the director to create a meditation of love, loss, memory and fate.

Overall – Set in ancient china, Ashes of Time appears more like a dream than a fantasy. Everything it seems is just out of touch, from the characters understanding of their place in life to a viewers understanding of the story line itself. The film is beautiful to look at, with some of the set piece imagery likely to linger long in the mind. The problem is that Ashes of Time is just a little too abstract. I’ve no problem with having to go back and re-view a film to discover all the nuances missed on first viewing. But having to do so to work out exactly who is who and how they are linked to each other suggests the director, in this case someone I admire greatly, has tried just a little bit too hard to be clever.

pointless

don't really know what this movie is about, it's trying too hard to be arty-farty

[Highly rated reviewer]

Not Good

Didn't like this film found it dull not much fight scenes if you want a good fight film watch crouching tiger or house of flying daggers

Ashes of Time

Great filming and colours, poor plot and ultimately disappointing...only 2 stars

not sure

i do love art films but wasnt too sure about this one. just finished watching it about 5 mins ago and was trying to remember the plot...

not too sure i can.having said that visually brilliant and great colours and cinematography..

but thats about it..