Wong Kar-wai’s Ashes of Time REDUX

and Director’s Dialogue (Sun Oct 5: 4)

If you like Wong Kar-wai than you’ll probably like Ashes of Time (Redux), it’s classic Wong Kar-wai (love gone wrong, longing, unrequited love, hidden identities) except that it is set in the desert and is a martial arts picture. The story, a kind of created prequel to the famous Chinese story The Eagle Shooting Heroes that follows the Lord of the East and the Lord of the West in their earlier days as they lose love, gain love and use their swords.

The film was originally made back in 1994 but didn’t do much, it wasn’t released here at all and slowly the film fell into oblivion.   Just recently Wong decided to try and put the movie back together, which meant visiting a bunch of old Chinatown theaters in search of all of the film’s content.   And it was worth their effort, the film is a sweeping epic that whisks you away.  

The NYFF public screenings were yesterday but there is a director’s dialogue this afternoon with Wong Kar-wai and the film itself gets released on October 10th.

Below are pictures from the post-film press conference with Wong Kar-wai, the famous Chinese actress Brigitte Lin and the amazing DP Christopher Doyle.    (Video will be up soon!) Also a trailer for your viewing pleasure. And because if anything Ashes of Time Redux speaks to the importance of film preservation, takepart to learn about the film foundation.

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