Ashes of Time

Ashes of Time is a 1994 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai, and loosely based on four characters from Jin Yong's novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes. Wong completely eschews any plot adaptation from Cha's novel, using only the names to create his own vision of an arguably unrelated film. During the film's long-delayed production, Wong produced a parody of the same novel with the same cast titled The Eagle Shooting Heroes. Although it received limited box office success, the parallels Ashes of Time draws between modern ideas of dystopia imposed on a wuxia film has led many... critics to cite it as one of Wong Kar-wai's most underappreciated works. In 2008, Wong re-edited and re-released the film under the title Ashes of Time Redux that, despite the digital restoration, presents a shorter cut. The redux version is at the moment the only good-quality edition available on the market . In this film, set in ancient times in China, Leslie Cheung plays an agent, Ouyang Feng, hiring famous bounty-hunters. His character is portrayed as a fallen swordsman driven by greed and heartless to both friend and foe.
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