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Wong Kar Wai's ASHES OF TIME to be re-edited and re-scored

General Discussions » Wong Kar Wai's ASHES OF TIME to be re-edited and re-scored (Posts 1 to 7 of 7)

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  1. Announced as part of the Cannes line-up is Wong Kar Wai's 1994 release, the existential martial arts epic ASHES OF TIME, now called ASHES OF TIME REDUX. Apparently this anticipates a proper DVD release for the film (which has never had a good DVD release). Hopefully both versions of the film - new and old - will be included on the DVD.

    Of strongest interest for us are the reports that the film will be re-scored. The original Frankie Chan score is charming and cheesy melodrama scoring... I like it, but it's definitely a product of its time. I hope whatever they do with the music doesn't involve just turning it into something like the Tan Dun or Shigeru Umebayashi wuxia scores - this is a very unique film, and demands a unique musical perspective.

    http://www.variety.com/article/VR111795 … 3&cs=1
    • CommentAuthorMatt C
    • CommentTimeApr 24th 2008
    But... this should be finished by now. And who re-scored it?
    http://unsungfilmscores.blogspot.com/ -- My film/TV/game score review blog
  3. I haven't been able to find out. Given Peer Raben passed away, Shigeru Umebayashi is probably the most likely candidate for a re-score. But yes, I'm aware this probably has been finished by now. (Mind you, Wong has in the past only 'just' made it to Cannes with his films. I imagine even this project will come pretty close.)
    • CommentAuthorJoep
    • CommentTimeApr 24th 2008
    Maybe the original composer gets the chance to re-score the film. Who knows. Sounds interesting though.
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      CommentAuthorDemetris
    • CommentTimeApr 24th 2008
    Why? Why not do a new project instead?
    http://www.demetrischristodoulides.com
  6. It's not uncommon for a film-maker to revisit a project. As late as 1984, Orson Welles still had some hope he would be able to release his version of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, a film that was released in an unsatisfactory form in 1942. Other major film-makers who've taken a second chance to get a film right are Spielberg, Lucas, Ridley Scott, Peter Weir... why not Wong Kar Wai, who usually edits alternate versions of his film in the first place?

    ASHES OF TIME would probably generate a lot more Western interest these days (post-HERO, CROUCHING TIGER) than it would have in 1994. If he always did hope to go back to the film and give it the once-over, it would explain why a dvd release of the film was prevented for all these years. Should it be a box office success, it may give him a bit more latitude to get a new film up after the commercial failure of MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS.
  7. Some remarks from VARIETY on the Redux, which has screened at Cannes. The review essentially says the content of the film has not changed much at all, though some ideas have been moved around. The regrading is apparently impressive, as is the remixing. Special note is made of the change in the music:

    "Completely new main and end titles, in color, replace the original's stark black-on-white ones and the original music score by Frankie Chan and Roel A. Garcia has been almost entirely replaced by new material and re-arrangements by Beijing-born Wu Tong, including cello solos by frequent Wu collaborator Yo-Yo Ma.

    "Both decisions have the effect of taking the pic out of the period in which it was made and giving it a look and feel that was largely alien to Hong Kong cinema of the mid-'90s, as well as separating it from the territory's pop-culture tradition. Wong has essentially rewritten his own auteurist history, re-positioning the pic among his output from "In the Mood for Love" onwards.

    "Chan and Garcia's lyrical synth-based score, with its breathy woodwind, rousing main theme and even other-worldly vocals, has been replaced by a much heavier, darker, more classical-Western score, which makes the whole viewing experience even more claustrophobic, in line with Wong's past three features."

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