A jilted swordsman hit-man pines in the desert hiring other hit-men do perform his contract killings.

Sounds confusing?  Not as confusing as writer/director Wong Kar Wai’s cinematographically gorgeous (shot by Wong’s staple Christopher Doyle) action picture that he co-wrote based on the Louis Cha novel THE EAGLE-SHOOTING HEROES.  The story centres on Ouyang Feng (The late Leslie Cheung who ironically committed suicide out of depression at age 46).  The film begins with his ponderings and after flashbacks with a whole series of events returns to that state.  In the journey of ‘discovery’, Wong treats his audience to a wide array of other character, played by Hong Kong’s hottest stars (Maggie Cheung in her youthful glory; the two Tony Leungs, Brigitte Lin) and his indulgence in cinema.

However, for a film that hardly makes sense with swordfights that mostly take place in slow motion, I still do not get the reason this film has ever been and still is so popular, especially among critics.  This is where the (or rather, my) greatest confusion lies.

ASHES OF TIME was initially released in 1994.  I never viewed the original but the REDUX version is reported to be lmost identical except for a musical re-scoring of cello music by Yo-Yo Ma.  Director Wong could at least have made his film more comprehensible.  Brutal sitting through, to say the least!