Ashes 1, Time 0. Repeat.

Ashes 1, Time 0. Repeat.

If Wong Kar-Wai were a painter, he might sometimes create bold, bright swirls on his canvas, with something figurative swimming into view. That’s my impression of “Ashes of Time Redux,” first released in 1994, now reduxed.

I didn’t see the first version, which the director considered unfinished, requiring 14 years of additional thought. So far has Kar-Wai’s, or Wong’s, art grown and deepened in the meantime (especially in the great “In the Mood for Love”) that I am not quite sure why he set himself the task. Apparently he could not forget it, although many of his admirers have.

I watched carefully; I was impressed with how pretty and smooth everything looked; and I was glad to see people like Brigitte Lin (Lin Ching-hsia), Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing, Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Tony Leung Ka-fai when they were young. Twelve times people have explained Chinese names to me (how the family name goes first and the given name last), but nobody has ever told me what to do about names that are half Western and half Chinese. Surely it is not Lin Brigitte?

IMDb is no help because they know every name on earth and if you believe them your editor is always saying “that’s not how we had it.” So I go straight to The New York Times review which does not supply a cast list and find this sentence: “Both Tony Leungs are in blind-man drag here.”

Thanks a lot! It also refers bafflingly to Ouyang Feng (“Mr. Cheung as a desert dweller named Ouyang”); doesn’t say which Mr. Cheung; neglects the fact that Tony Leung Ka-fai plays a different character altogether; refers elsewhere unhelpfully to “both Tony Leungs”; and doesn’t mention that Charlie Yeung plays two parts, although in fairness to the Times I should note that if you are not confused at this point you have not been paying attention.

While I was there I thought I would study the plot. Manohla Dargis does what she can. She says, “See, there’s this swordsman.” That’s it. That’s all of it. Oh, wait she also says, “Mr. Cheung, as a desert dweller called Ouyang, is a broker for itinerant swordsmen and their prospective clients.” She doesn’t say which Mr. Cheung; probably not the blind swordsman.

I know wisenheimers on the blogs are going to write: “Did she really see it?” Yes, she did! I know because I saw her! And myself? If you require an ending to my sentence (which is more than Wong Kar-Wai did), here goes: It is about a humble little tavern in Chinese medieval times, but through its doors.

On certain occasions, a director knows the material too well. He has internalized it so completely that everything in it becomes crystal clear to him. I recall during our collaboration on “Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-vixens,” when Russ Meyer would begin lecturing about what Junk Yard Sal could or couldn’t do until you’d think she was a Greek goddess. “Junk Yard Sal wouldn’t do that!” Russ would bellow. And I said, “Of course she would. I’ve got the typewriter.”

At least in Russ Meyer’s films they can or can’t do things. That’s why he’s an artist and never had to make pornographic films, where characters can only do one thing or you want your money back.

But this is beside my point.

I liked “Ashes of Time Redux,” up to a point. It looks terrific, and all the characters know what they want although we don’t know what they want Wong Kar-wai doesn’t supply much of a plot with a narrative engine to drag us through it; he adds chapter headings like Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter (a direct quote from cummings), but that just makes you think, “Oh now I get it! I don’t understand it, but it’s happening in Winter!”

In situations like this all you have to do is sit back and enjoy yourself if you can. This is a beautiful film, and not boring, what with its swordfights and romantic agony; lushly photographed and elegantly choreographed example of the wuxia genre which I have only just now discovered although it reaches back to the 15th century with stories involving swordplay and the martial arts. Wuxia means a lot less typing than “swordplay and the martial arts,” so remember that word for me won’t you?

Watch Ashes 1 Time 0. Repeat. For Free On Gomovies.