Ashes of Time (1994)
Director - Wong Kar Wai
ASHES OF TIME is the story of a swordsmen and the people that walk in and out of his life. The pacing is much like Wong Kar Wai's other films, like CHUNGKING EXPRESS. The characters that the Swordsman encounters are very interesting and well developed. In the short time these characters are on the screen, you begin to care about them.

I was looking forward to this DVD because the World Video release was horrible. I couldn't watch it all the way through and returned it. As for the Mei Ah release? I would say it is watchable, but that is about it.
The picture is grainy at times and washed out looking. The print that was used looks very worn. There are also English subtitles on the print of the film that cannot be turned off. The picture is barely acceptable. It's watchable, but that's about the nicest thing that can be said about it.

The box only says the sound is Dolby Digital. The sound was a little better than the picture, but not much. The soundtrack came from the front speakers and sounded like it was taken from a 3rd generation print of the film.
DVD Released by : Mei Ah
Player reviewed with : Sony S3000
Receiver reviewed with : Sony 925
 
Features:
NONE

The movie contained absolutely nothing extra. No menu, language selection, subtitle selection, or trailers.

ASHES OF TIME is not everybody's cup of tea. Some people love it and some hate it. Fans of Wong Kar Wai will at least want to see it at least once. The movie is filmed beautifully and the characters are very interesting. The DVD could definitely be better. It's sad that a fairly recent movie can't get a decent transfer. Unless you absolutely must own this movie, I would avoid it. At least try to rent it first. I can honestly say that next to the WORLD VIDEO release of ASHES OF TIME, this has the worst quality of all the DVD's reviewed here.