ashes of time, a film by Wong Kar-wai, is not about martial arts, Wong Kar-wai wanted to make a film about martial arts, but the result of his works are not pointed essentially about fighting scene or special effect, he always ask the question: how wonderful if we could go back to the past?
ASHES OF TIME is inspired by characters from Louis Cha’s martial arts novel The Eagle-Shooting Heroes. It centers on a man named Ouyang Feng. Since the woman he loved rejected him, he has lived in the western desert, hiring skilled swordsmen to carry out contract killings.
His wounded heart has made him pitiless and cynical, but his encounters with friends, clients and future enemies make him conscious of his solitude…
my friend, you must be around 40. in 40 years, you must have come to hate someone, someone who would wronged you, somebody whom you would have liked to kill but you did not dare or you were too lazy.
well, murder is a very simple business, i have this friend who is skilled in martial arts. he’s been a little low on money lately, pay him a reasonable price and he will kill for you !
think about it.
that was how Ouyang Feng advertising about his killing business, i first saw the movie in 2001, at the same time when IN THE MOOD OF LOVE released in France. They show all films of Wong Kar-wai. i remember the quote from the movie, how people could advertising about their business in that such a cruel and easy way?
Ouyang Feng was always talking about his business of killing people, he never talk about love, what’s wrong with him? every year a friend visit him and on a particular year, his friend bring a bottle of wine. since that time that i know in China, there’s a kind of wine, when you drink it, you will forget the past!
what she gave me was a bottle of wine, this wine is called “a life without concern”. this friend says that this wine erases your memories. i did not believe in it, how could such a wine exist? she says that the major problem of man is that he remembers. how wonderful it would be to forget the past. each day like a new beginning, wouldn’t be great?
ashes of time is a story of hidden love, there’s no word to express how much we love a person, we always missed the opportunity to confess, we always face impossibility to explain, love is a content. we don’t know who is going to be win but we should know something for sure, we both are the loser since the beginning.
it took me 8 years to get the DVD of ashes of time, it’s a redux version made by my favorite director for all time Wong Kar-wai, it was an exciting moment for me to re watch the film, there are still many things coming to my reflection during the film projection, i re watch it so many time already, it also took me something to write a review here.
ashes of time will show the matter of fact that the 3 words “I LOVE YOU” doesn’t really matter to us, the important thing is to keep the one you love near you, to take care of time to forgive him to love him with all your heart,
the last chapter is an exiting moment, a remarkable scene you might never forget in your whole life. The woman who jilted Ouyang by marrying his brother. She is ill and alone with her young son and her decision to spurn Ouyang Feng now causes her grief. Huang reveals that his yearly meeting with Ouyang was a pretext for Huang to visit the woman every year, bringing her news of her true love.
do you know what the most important thing is in my life?
nothing is important to me now, i though the words i love you really mattered. i thought they meant for lifetime commitment. but looking back, nothing really matters. because everything changes. i thought i was the winner, until one day i looked into the mirror, and i saw the face of a loser. i failed to have the person i loved most … to be with me in my best years.
starting from the beginning, giving you doubts and the last scene explain you well about everything and the main plot of ashes of time, with a wonderful soundtrack, Bygone Love Composed by Frankie Chan. i really enjoy the music, it’s the best moment in my life to got chance to see such a wonderful movie,
here is the original soundtrack of ashes of time
i watch The Eagle Shooting Heroes since i was young, it was a funny movie in my memory. i just learned that the film was shooting at the same period back to back with Ashes of Time, shared almost the same cast.
