Has anyone seen or have "Ashes Of Time" on DVD. I loved the movie, but the DVD was such bad quality. The picture was terrible, and even some of the subtitles we misspelled.

You pretty much said it all. Good movie, crappy DVD.

Great resource for reviews of Hong Kong DVDs is the AsianDVDGuide. They mention the U.S. release as being particularly horrible, but the Mei Ah Hong Kong release is not as bad. I have that DVD and it is watchable. No extras (not even a menu), transfer isn't the greatest, but worth having if you love the film.

I love the movie, but I read such horrible reviews of the 2 DVD versions, that I just went cheap and got the VCD. It looks OK to me--about like a good VHS. This movie really deserves an extras-crammed, pristine print DVD release.

Don't know about you guys, I thought this movie was terrible, really boring, really slow and you'll probably need 4-5 viewings to understand it.

here's some reviews of it:
http://www.hkmdb.com/db/movies/revie...isplay_set=eng

this one is pretty funny:

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Well I finally got to watch it last night. You know what, this is the most screwed-up,
plotless, storyless, pointless, and heartbreaking movie I've ever come across. In fact,
this shouldn't even be called a MOVIE. The director must have been smoking tires
when he did this one. And I can't believe HK's biggest stars would agree to part in
this movie after reading the "script". "ASHES OF TIME" does not make any sense in
any way throughout the story. Characters come and go within 10 minutes and then
repeats the cycle. Only OyangFeng, played by Leslie Cheung, tells the story as the
narrator, and HuanYaoShi (Tony Leung Kai Fa), who pops back in the story at the
end. This is one of those things where within the last 30 minutes of the movie, I had
absolutely no clue when it might come to an end. It seems that everytime it looks
like an ending, some more useless scenes occur. During the movie, there's about 40
minutes without any action/fight, which made me wonder why I'm still watching.
ANd if you ask me, the fight scenes sucked big cocks. It does NOT even compare
with that of Eagle-Shooting Heroes, which actually has a story and good actions. The
action in "ASHES OF TIME" is totally worthless and makes me wanna fast forward.
Note that I am especially fond of action scenes, and the way fights were
implemented in this movie, reminds me of a bunch of 5 year old kids playing on a
monkey bar! Despite its super confusing "story" X 5000, I found myself with pity
while watching Oyangfeng's heartless response to the women's begging request to
help her (of course, you don't expect me to remember any names) get revenge on
swordsmen who killed her innocent brother. Anyway, I would really recommand
everyone to go and watch this movie, and please, write some comments about it
here afterwards. As for a rating? Well, I can not ever give it more than a 1/0, which
is undefined. It's not even worth a 0/10.

[Edited by IC_Freeze on 02-18-01 at 11:07 AM]

Hideous DVD. i, personally hate the movie and think its a big, bloated, unfocused mess with a lot of talent dragged into it, but, technically, any DVD that doesnt treat Christopher Doyle's cinematography (Ashes..., Happy Together, Chunking Express) with the respect it deserves isnt worth my money. Glad i only rented Ashes.

This does seem to be a pretty polarizing movie for HK fans---I'm on the "love it" side, though. I'd have to agree that the plot is fairy incomprehensible, and it's certainly a bit pretentious in places. I just found a lot of the visuals really striking, the music cool, and the action scenes to be fantastically different from your standard KF movie. I sort of appreciate this movie in the same way I occasionally appreciate abstract art. For better or worse, the director certainly pursued his vision.

This movie was so boring and confusing to me...I doubt if I'll watch it again.

Love it or...
 

I was going to post a subject less flattering, but I've reconsidered. If you're looking for a typical HK martial arts fest like Iron Monkey, this ain't it. Don't get me wrong, Iron Monkey is one of my favorites to come out of Hong Kong, but Ashes of Time is on a different level.

This film reminded me why I love movies. I am a puzzle fan, and I thought it was wonderful that it took repeated viewings to 'get' the film. I enjoyed the first viewing just for the challenge in comprehension, and the deepening understanding that further viewings allowed served to deepen my love for the film.

My mind can really be a pain, as it tends to push its way through plots and I tend to figure out what is going to happen (down to the damn character's lines). I relish the opportunity to be taken on an unexpected ride, as it doesn't happen often. Ashes of Time was a beautiful and intruiging ride that I will not soon forget.

Yes, and love it or hate it, those great visuals are ruined in a bad transfer.

I guess I have to avoid it for its quality. I wanted to get this, any news on a new release in the US?

Nope! But there's some effort going on to have Criterion by the rights and release it.

The reason of this is because there is a 4-5 minute promo of Ashes of Time in the Criterion version of "In the Moood for Love" that has a STUNNING transfer - the best the film as ever looked. After seeing that a lot of people were dying to see the film in its glory.

I, for one, think the movie is one of Wong's best - right now to Chungking and ITMFL. It's almost like an Antonioni film with Godardesque cameras that just happens to be about wuxia. Nothing in the world is remotely like this film.

There's also a rumour that Wong is reworking the film as a "director's cut". No one can confirm this though.

For those in San Francisco, a brand new print of Ashes of Time is showing this week only!! I'll probably be going every night since it's one of my favorite films of all time.

http://www.hkinsf.com/4star/nowshowing.html

This sounds promising and that you think it is Wong's best, that almost makes me go and buy it now despite of the quality of transfer. Thanks, you are always dependable Grimfarrow.

Wow, I am honoured :) Thanks for your comments!

Now please don't hate me if somehow you didn't like the film ;)

I'd *seriously* recommend that you wait, though. I saw it in the theatre, and that is one reason why it made much more of an impression on me. Seeing it with rubbish transfer will just ruin the whole experience for you.

I think I will be waiting then. After all there are still many other films I want to see as well. :) Thanks.