Ashes of Time

1994 movie

Rating: 10/20

Plot: A recluse in the desert acts as a middle man to find swordsman for people who have problems that need solved. There's a guy with a wine that makes you lose your memory, a woman with eggs, a swordsman going blind, another swordsman who doesn't like shoes, horse thieves, and a man who winds up being his own sister.

This was so boring. I was immediately turned off by that texture that a lot of Asian films seem to have where everything looks runny, like it's been stone washed. This movie is really overly stylized with lots of slow motion undulating and off-colors and jerk cuts. Those are all technical terms, by the way. The fight scenes are dully shot with those quick cuts, some slow motion, and a lot of close ups. The actors might have martial arts skills, but you definitely couldn't tell the way the action sequences were shot. This was really cheap and ugly art, and I don't want it anywhere near my fireplace. It's too bad because I thought there were some possibilities with the structure of this (I like how it's broken into chapters based on seasons although that's not a new idea), the general idea, and the poetic voiceover narration.