Ashes of Time Redux

VANCOUVER PREMIERE!  │ EXCLUSIVE FIRST RUN! │ One of the most intriguing and anticipated releases of the past year finally comes to the big screen in Vancouver. Launched at Cannes in 2008, Ashes of Times Redux is moody master stylist Wong Kar-Wai’s refurbishment of his 1994 epic Ashes of Time, the director’s sole entry into the marital arts film genre — and one of his most underappreciated works. Made with a big budget and an all-star cast, Wong’s dreamy film borrows characters from Louis Cha’s novel The Eagle Shooting Heroes to weave a complex, densely-plotted, melancholic tale of cynicism and sword fighting. The drama centres on two violent old friends left embittered by betrayal and loss: Ouyang (the late Leslie Cheung) and Huang (Tony Leung Ka-Fai). Orbiting around these two characters is an array of star-crossed, violence-prone friends and strangers with serious troubles of their own, all played by major Hong Kong stars. The Sammo Hung-choreographed swordplay is dazzling; Wong’s visual pyrotechnics are, as always, awe-inspiring. Devotees of the director’s work will know to expect yearning, regret, memory, and the relentless passage of time as chief themes. Chungking Express, Wong’s international breakthrough, was made on the quick during a break in Ashes of Time’s lengthy post-production. Ashes was little seen in the West, and has circulated elsewhere in various versions; Wong intends Redux to be definitive. His restoration includes a new score featuring Yo-Yo Ma (replacing the original’s synth music), a re-mastering of ace DP Christopher Doyle’s extraordinary visuals (the original Ashes won Venice’s Best Cinematography prize), and a tweaking of the film’s structure to correspond to the seasons of Chinese almanac. Colour, 35mm, in Cantonese and Mandarin with English subtitles. 93 mins.