Dung che sai duk (1994)

Director:

Kar Wai Wong

Writers:

Louis Cha (novel)
Kar Wai Wong (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 November 1995 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot:

A broken-hearted hit man moves to the desert where he finds skilled swordsmen to carry out his contract killings.

Plot Keywords:

Swordsman | China | One Man Army | Donkey | Wuxia

Awards:

10 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Brigitte Lin	...	Mu-rong Yin / Mu-rong Yang
Leslie Cheung	...	Ou-yang Feng
Maggie Cheung	...	The Woman
Tony Leung Chiu Wai	...	Blind Swordsman
Jacky Cheung	...	Hung Chi
Tony Leung Ka Fai	...	Huang Yao-shi
Li Bai	...	Hung Chi's Wife
Carina Lau	...	Peach Blossom
Charlie Yeung	...	Young Girl
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joey Wang	...	(scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Ashes of Time Redux (International: English title) (International: English title) (recut version)
Ashes of Time (Hong Kong: English title)
Dong xie xi du (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Dong xie xi du zhongji ban (China: Mandarin title) (recut version)
Dung che sai duk redux (Hong Kong: Cantonese title) (recut version)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence.

Runtime:

100 min | 93 min (Redux version)

Country:

Hong Kong | China | Taiwan

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Redux version) | Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | UK:15 | USA:R (Redux version) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) (Redux version) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) (Redux version) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Hong Kong:II | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) (Redux version) | Hong Kong:IIB (Redux version) | Finland:K-15 | Australia:M | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

China

Company:

Beijing Film Studio

Trivia:

This film had an exhausting effect on Kar Wai Wong. While on hiatus during the editing process he wrote and shot Chung Hing sam lam (1994) (Chungking Express) to "clear his head".

Quotes:

Ou-yang Feng: [On Hung Chi and his wife leaving White Camel Mountain together] When I am seeing them off, my heart aches in jealousy. Once I had a chance to do the same. But somehow I passed it up.

Movie Connections:

References Shogun Assassin (1980)

Memories Cut Deeper Than Swords...

"Ashes of Time Redux" is Wong Kar Wai's venture into the martial arts genre. However, energetic action and narrative clarity take a backseat to the visual poetry that contemplates wounded hearts, loneliness and the memories of lost love that cut deeper than any sword. Best appreciated as a sensory experience, "Ashes of Time Redux" unfolds as a series of beautiful yet melancholic images like the soft brush strokes of a Chinese landscape painting. Even the sword fights are shot as swirling, hallucinatory dreamscapes. The haunting desert landscape gorgeously captured in saturated colors by cinematographer Christopher Doyle, a brooding cello score by Yo-Yo Ma and the beauty of the actors (an all-star Hong Kong cast) contribute to a movie experience that both pleases the senses and engages the heart.