‘Ashes,’ ‘Tears’ Reveal Expertise of Wong

First “Chungking Express,” then “Days of Being Wild,” and now the Nuart catches us up with two more films of Hong Kong virtuoso Wong Kar-wai: “Ashes of Time” (1994) and “As Tears Go By” (1988), which will play as a double feature through Tuesday.

“Ashes of Time” is a sweeping, bravura martial arts period adventure set primarily in a vast desert and dealing with emotions more than swordplay. Although it’s been rightly compared with the films of Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone, it is likely to be the most confounding Asian costume drama you have ever seen, with even the most complicated samurai movies paling in comparison. (Fittingly, it features two stars with the same name, Tony Leung.)

It is all but impossible to follow yet is clearly an epic-scale expression of what Wong himself recognized upon its completion as his abiding preoccupation: rejection and the fear of rejection. “Ashes of Time” suggests that life can be beautiful, it can be an adventure, but that almost everybody is unlucky in love and in life’s choices. Further, he implies that a combination of the workings of fate and emotion will do most of us in every time, and that a sense of humor helps.

What’s essential to comprehend are the destinies of its key characters. Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung, with a mustache and goatee) is the saga’s major figure and narrator, who regrets choosing the sword over the woman he loves (Maggie Cheung). After 10 disillusioning years, he has settled down to running a desert inn and serving as an agent for hired killers. Similarly, Ouyang’s close friend Huang Yaoshi (Tony Leung Kar-fai) pines for Peach Blossom (Carina Lau), the wife of Huang’s best friend, a swordsman (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) who longs only to return home before he goes blind.

In the meantime, Huang has met a man, Murong Yang, and jokingly promises to marry his sister, but the “man” is actually the sister, Murong Yin, a martial artist in male disguise, and she takes him seriously. This woman (Brigitte Lin, at her fiercest) goes mad with rejection; but Huang can’t resist remarking, “I couldn’t tell Yin from Yang.” Only the swordsman Hong Qi (Jacky Cheung) proves resilient in the face of life’s vicissitudes. (If you’re able to sort out all this--and more--without a synopsis, you deserve a prize.) “Ashes of Time” is a frustrating experience, glorious but too impenetrable.

By contrast, “As Tears Go By,” Wong’s 1988 debut film, is by far his most conventional film yet reveals a fresh eye in its composition and employs those streaking images that have become part of his style. Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung play brothers from China who become small-time crooks in Hong Kong and get caught up in a lethal intra-gang rivalry; these two have a credibility-defying ability to take savage beatings that make a Sylvester Stallone seem like a marshmallow by comparison. Maggie Cheung is the beautiful distant cousin that Jacky falls for; the entire, largely satisfying film, is suffused with a doomed romanticism.

* Both films unrated. Times guidelines: Both are too violent for children, especially “As Tears Go By.”

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‘Ashes of Time’

Leslie Cheung: Ouyang Feng

Tony Leung (Kar-fai): Huang Yaoshi

Brigitte Lin: Murong Yin/Murong Yang

Tony Leung (Chiu-wai): The Blind Swordsman

Maggie Cheung: The Woman

Jacky Cheung: Hong Qi

A Hong Kong Film Magazine release of a Scholar Films presentation of a Jet Tone production in association with Tsui Siu Ming Productions, Beijing Film Studio and Pony Canyon Inc. Director Wong Kar-wai; inspired by characters from Jin Yong’s novel “The Eagle-Shooting Hero.” Producer Tsai Mu-ho. Executive producer Jeff Lau. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Editors Patrick Tam, William Chang, Hai Kit-wai, Kwong Chi-leung. Costumes Luk Ha-fong. Music Franky Chan. Art director William Chang. Martial arts instructor Sammo Hung. In Cantonese, with English and Chinese subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes.

‘As Tears Go By’

Andy Lau: Ah-Wah

Jacky Cheung: Fly

Maggie Cheung: Ah-Ngor

A Hong Kong Film Magazine presentation of an In-Gear Film production. Writer-director Wong Kar-wai. Producer Rover Tang. Cinematographer Andrew Lau. Editor Peter Chiang. Music Danny Chung. Art director William Chang. In Cantonese, with English and Chinese subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 42 minutes.

* Exclusively through Tuesday at the Nuart, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles, (310) 478-6379.