DVD reviews: 'Ashes of Time,' 'Australia'

Wong Kar-wai decided not to "impose what I've learned in all these years" on the Redux version of "Ashes of Time," his surreal 1994 martial arts film.

That apparently includes feature films' need for some coherence. For all its charms, "Ashes of Time" is a big beautiful mess, one that leaves the uninitiated grappling with the cosmic "Huh?"

Imagine a Chinese version of "El Topo," that seminal psychedelic midnight movie about a badlands-wandering gunslinger.

"Ashes of Time Redux" gave Wong a chance to return to what he admits was "the most complex story I ever made." This rising of "Ashes" was no vanity project, however. 

The elements for the original film were in tatters, Wong discovered a few years back. Without a restoration, he says, the film would have lived on primarily on bootleg VHS tapes. 

The director had to gather negatives from collectors and storage houses across the globe (in the U.S., notably a warehouse for Chinatown cinemas' discarded reels.) The restoration involved use of some new material.

The soundtrack was remixed and re-created, with the addition of inspired and eerie solos by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma. 

"Ashes" is loosely based on a Chinese series of historical martial arts novels that Wong describes as "like 'Lord of the Rings' in the West." Wong picked up a couple of characters from author Louis Cha and discarded the rest. 

"I'm not sure he enjoyed (the film)," the director says of the hugely popular "wuxia" writer.

Like most of Wong's films, "Ashes" deals with the pain and pleasures associated with memories of loves lost, paths not taken.

"Wouldn't it be lovely if we could go back to the past," Maggie Cheung's character whispers.

Perhaps. The film's narrator, the object of her musings, begins his tale with: "It's said memory is the root of man's troubles."

The film centers around that narrator (Leslie Cheung), an ex-assassin who brokers the skills of other killers "for a small fee." The assassins, clients and victims come and go, some played by actors in dual roles. The film's only big-name star at the time, Brigitte Lin, plays a sister and brother who try to hire the same assassin to kill each other.

Two Tony Leungs of Hong Kong cinema add to the confusion. Tony Leung Chiu Wai ("Infernal Affairs") plays a swordsman who fights a horde of bandits as his failing vision fades to black. Tony Leung Ka Fai ("Election") plays another warrior, who shows up at the narrator's desert outpost with a bottle of magic wine. 

The plot is woven in chapters dedicated to the Chinese seasons (a scheme thoughtfully reflected in the DVD's inner plastic).

The film was shot on location in the Chinese desert, near Mongolia, at a time when few movies were shot in the country. In the spirit of memories from the well, Wong recalls the shoot as "the days of being wild for us. To revisit it is very emotional."

Cinematographer Christopher Doyle says that in order to capture the desert landscape, he yearned for a lens so wide it doesn't exist. As restored, the images are often saturated in color and swirl, adding to the viewers' delightful disorientation. Unfortunately, the images on the DVD tend toward murky and grainy, almost certainly due to source materials. Audio is good, allowing for enjoyment of the fine score.

The Sony Picture Classics DVD release features two extras. A featurette from the 2008 Cannes film festival catches up with director and cast 15 years later, on the occasion of the "Ashes" rerelease. 

A longer interview with Wong is conducted by the longtime Village Voice film reviewer J. Hoberman. The session covers "Ashes" and some of Wong's other works. It's rewarding ... at least when the critic finally lets the director talk.

Let me recommend Wong's masterpiece "In the Mood for Love" to anyone who hasn't experienced it. The Criterion Collection has a great DVD version out there. The movie stars Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Maggie Cheung, who made a half dozen films together after "Ashes."

Also, Criterion has just released a Blu-ray of Wong's breakthrough work "Chungking Express," made in the same period as "Ashes."

* * * * *

"Australia" also springs from an adventurous location shoot, this time in the "faraway north" of the continent. It was the largest production in Australian film history.

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman share above-the-title credits in the tale built around Australia's own Pearl Harbor, in 1942. The imaginative and visually driven Baz Luhrmann directs.

Fox Home Entertainment has released the romantic epic in single-disc DVD and Blu-ray editions.

In high definition, "Australia" takes your breath away. It's clear from the opening scene that this is reference-quality home video. Colors are vivid, skin tones flawless, everything clear and crisp. Check the water droplets on the boy's brown skin. The audio doesn't quite keep up, but it's certainly good enough.

Unfortunately, "Australia" took a beating from critics and disappointed at the boxoffice. The film barely registered with the Oscar voters, usually suckers for this sort of thing. Hopes had been high among "Moulin Rouge" fans for a reteaming of Kidman and Luhrmann. 

Approached with moderated expectations, however, "Australia" does a decent job of killing three hours. The money is all up there on the screen, at least. Reminds me of the competent second tier of 1960s epics that slipped from memory as the credits rolled.

Kidman plays a proper Englishwoman who inherits a rundown outback ranch; Jackman is the cattle wrangler she hates at first sight and all that. The actors' chemistry existed only on paper, alas.

You get a trio of formulaic plots for the price of one: a western about a daring cattle roundup; the PC story of an Aboriginal child sought by white officials for cultural brainwashing; and the real-life military tale of the Japanese bombing of Darwin, Australia. There is a lot going on, which helps, as does Luhrmann's playful and "crazy vision," as Jackman puts it.

The movie has an obvious intermission point that, curiously, would have worked just fine as an ending. See what you think.

Extras on the "Australia" Blu-ray are in high-def. They include a couple of short scenes deleted for good reason; a making-of docu made for prerelease TV audiences; and some solid short films hosted by Luhrmann about the film's crafts, locations and cinematography.

Comments

[Lokes]

Good review