Lovers and fighters

Fifteen years ago, when as his career was just starting to take off, Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai made a martial arts movie, his only one so far. An adaptation of Louis Cha's famous martial arts novel The Eagle-Shooting Heroes, Ashes of Time it was, as his films would later be, a vague and strikingly beautiful piece of work. With the original negatives lost and multiple versions now floating around the world, Wong had long wanted to return to Ashes of Time for a restored, remastered and definitive cut. The result is Ashes of Time Redux.

Set in ancient China, Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung) is a fallen swordsman driven by greed toward both friend and foe. He is a perpetual loner and afraid of love after having his heart broken but the bounty hunters who work for him, like "Blind Swordsman" (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and Hung Chi (Jacky Cheung), discover the intangible secret of true love and teach him precious lessons.

Wong's film had stunning photography, from a palette that included searing acid yellows and scorched ambers and reliant on reflected light and layered images.