Erin StapletonDesert Middlemen, Barefoot Fighters
July 31st 2008 14:04
“Ashes of Time Redux”, Wong Kar Wai, 2008
It’s fair to say I got pretty excited about the prospect of a new Wong Kar Wai film. Excited enough to entirely overlook the prominent use of the word REDUX in the title. Whatever. I had never seen “Ashes of Time” anyway. And, more importantly, none of the people I excitedly TOLD about the ‘new’ Wong Kar Wai pointed out this to me either. Now I’m paranoid there’s some sort of laugh at erin being spazzy conspiracy.
So Wong Kar Wai. What a champ. He has the singular knack of corralling all the most beautiful boys in Hong Kong and making them be in a film together. Also, my heart swells with nationalistic pride at the cinematography of Christopher Doyle. Bitching colouration. Who gave that man a filter? The fight scenes are awesome, deliberately overexposed, grainy, and silhouetted in places. And totally different than other Hong Kong cinema. And then, there’s Leslie Cheung. Hong Kong cinema’s answer to Johnny Depp. Complete with the cheek bones, wry smile and appropriate levels of facial hair. But he jumped off a building about 5 years ago. So that sucks.
But you know, ‘Ashes of Time’ is Wong’s early work. And, well, it ain’t no 2046. It is a really traditional piece of Hong Kong cinema in some ways, especially with the unrequited love costume drama swordsmen aspect. It is, however, still really really good. Sometimes, when I see a film by Wong Kar Wai, or Jim Jarmusch, or Sofia Coppola, I wonder a little bit why other people bother.
Then, I came out of the cinema, and I overheard some dick saying, “that was a bit arty farty, I didn’t know what was going on”. This is why I hate people. Also, this is why I ban talking about a film until half an hour after you’ve seen it.
7.5/10
It’s fair to say I got pretty excited about the prospect of a new Wong Kar Wai film. Excited enough to entirely overlook the prominent use of the word REDUX in the title. Whatever. I had never seen “Ashes of Time” anyway. And, more importantly, none of the people I excitedly TOLD about the ‘new’ Wong Kar Wai pointed out this to me either. Now I’m paranoid there’s some sort of laugh at erin being spazzy conspiracy.
ashes of time redux
So Wong Kar Wai. What a champ. He has the singular knack of corralling all the most beautiful boys in Hong Kong and making them be in a film together. Also, my heart swells with nationalistic pride at the cinematography of Christopher Doyle. Bitching colouration. Who gave that man a filter? The fight scenes are awesome, deliberately overexposed, grainy, and silhouetted in places. And totally different than other Hong Kong cinema. And then, there’s Leslie Cheung. Hong Kong cinema’s answer to Johnny Depp. Complete with the cheek bones, wry smile and appropriate levels of facial hair. But he jumped off a building about 5 years ago. So that sucks.
leslie cheung in 'ashes of time redux'
But you know, ‘Ashes of Time’ is Wong’s early work. And, well, it ain’t no 2046. It is a really traditional piece of Hong Kong cinema in some ways, especially with the unrequited love costume drama swordsmen aspect. It is, however, still really really good. Sometimes, when I see a film by Wong Kar Wai, or Jim Jarmusch, or Sofia Coppola, I wonder a little bit why other people bother.
Then, I came out of the cinema, and I overheard some dick saying, “that was a bit arty farty, I didn’t know what was going on”. This is why I hate people. Also, this is why I ban talking about a film until half an hour after you’ve seen it.
7.5/10
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