Ashes to Ashes

Yesterday afternoon I saw a press screening of Ashes to Ashes Redux, Wong Kar Wai's reworking of his 1994 martial arts/art movie. In preparation, I broke out the original laser disc the night before. It looks crappy but is nowhere as muddy as the subsequent DVD releases.


As Caddyshack is to American comedy, Ashes of Time is to the "New Wave of Hong Kong Cinema." I mean that as a huge compliment. Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, and Chevy Chase are like the Mt. Rushmore of their ilk, and Ashes has an excellent sampling from Hong Kong's New Wave at the top of their game. (Screen captures in order: Brigitte, Charlie, Leslie, both Tonys, and Maggie. Sorry, Jacky. Your scenes were too dark.)


True, the subtitles could have been better and the soundtrack was cheap and somewhat cheesy. (This was pre pop songs and sambas.) The flashbacks were confusing, too. But the look was mind blowing, and the story actually made sense if you were familiar with the fiction of Louis Cha or saw the movie three or four times. I belong to the latter group. The plot depicts the heartbreak suffered and shared by the various fighters before they became heroes--it might be called their emo years.


So it kind of pissed me off to hear so-called critics walk out of the screening with nothing but complaints. "The print sucked." Okay, that was true. "There was a story?" Well, yes. Just because (1) you don't get it the first time or (2) maybe you didn't know who was saying which monologues because you don't know the actors' voices doesn't mean it doesn't make sense. I recall walking out of the Garfield totally baffled but blown away and emotionally moved after seeing it for the first time.


The changes for Redux weren't as drastic as I expected. It's not like the redone Star Wars or Close Encounters of The Third Kind with new effects or a brand new ending. I think it's been trimmed by 7 or 9 minutes and the flashbacks are slightly less random. Breaking it down into seasons makes sense, especially since Leslie's character is always refering to the almanac. The framing makes the coming and going of characters less odd, too. The soundtrack might be the biggest change. It went from spacy guitar solos and synth stuff to a full orchestra with solos by Yo-Yo Ma. (Jonnie To, getting any ideas?)


Ultimately, the film will not be suddenly digestible to the mainstream. It's still more about emotional tension and yearning than fighting or heroism, and the main attraction will be seeing some of Hong Kong's most loved actors at a time when Wong Kar-Wai and his cinematographer Christopher Doyle were out of their minds with creative style. Can't wait to see a decent screening of this cleaned-up version and buy the DVD when it comes out.