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Re: Ashes of Time

Hello Victor,

I am really happy to hear that it had a chance to cast its spell on you. The most common complaint/question I have hear is that the voiceovers are difficult to follow, probably due to the unfamiliar voices and names.Like the names chosen for the 'siblings'..MouRong Yin and MouRong Yang etc.
certainly give more of an immediate clue to the character. The It certainly does not attempt to make it easy on the viewer.

Since you have mentioned a desire to watch it again, I hope you do so, as it certainly bears revisiting. The film is actually an adaptation of a famous novel, thus the Chinese title, which roughly translates into something like 'Evil East, Poisonous West'..the names of the two main protagonists. It is a swordfighting 'martial world'( XingWu) novel..sort of like pulps over here. Obviously by the time the story went through WKW's hand's, the only thing left were the names, since he'd completely subverted it to examine his usual theme of time and memory...as can be seen not just in the content, but also the nonlinear way the story unfolds.

A minor caveat....the film exists in several forms..I believe the Taiwanese print has a bit more swordfighting ( shows are frequently cut longer for release there..in HK they want it chop chop) Not sure which version you saw. If it's in mandarin, then it's likely to be the taiwanese version.

Did you like the story? I was bowled over when he cuts back to the' hero' ( Leslie Cheung ) and we see the same image of his ex ( now his brother's wife ), or at least that's whom he imagines is in the room with him, even though it is actually the character of MouRong Yin,( are people reading this confused yet?) caressing him later on in the show after all the story has been revealed, as the added baggage has so much more resonance. Luvverly.

Also the cast is stupendous. Leslie and Jacky ( itinerant swordfighter who loses a finger ) are part of the HK pop pantheon...literally called "the 4 Heavenly/ Sky Princes'..imagine having Michael Jackson at the height of his popularity and Elvis in the same film..and they can act. the donkey girl is a star from taiwan..teeny bopper fave. They two Tony Leungs, called big Tony and Little Tony (long haired fighter and blind swordfighter respectively ) are very big..the former in that French film The Lover, and little Tony..well, you know him as the cop from Chungking Express. I believe I've already mentioned Brigitte Lin in a previous post.

If you have any questions, please feel free. Like I'd mentioned before, there are a ton of cultural references..e.g. when he mention 'the book', he means the I Ching erc. Just in case I've never mentioned it..I absolutely love this film.

Regards,
A.


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  • Re: Ashes of Time - Andrew T. 19:11:47 02/18/02 (0)


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