Wong Kar-wai’s most challenging film is also among his best. From the very start, the work can be hard to get into. Even those familiar with novelist Jin Yong’s The Legend of the Condor Heroes – Ashes of Time’s inspiration – might be confused by Wong’s reinterpretation of its characters. And then there’s the film’s achronological structure to confuse matters even more. Despite all this, the film succeeds. Wong is helped by having an unreal cast that reads like a who’s who of early 90s Hong Kong cinema – Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Carina Lau, Charlie Yeung, Jacky Cheung and Maggie Cheung. A deconstruction of the wuxia genre, the film is centred around Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), a man based in the desert who acts as an intermediary for those looking for hired swords. However, there are no gallant warriors here, just broken down fighters, trapped within the past, worn out and defined by their regrets. Wong lays all his themes of loneliness and alienation on the table. At times it threatens to get melodramatic but the skill of the actors helps keep the emotions grounded and supremely moving.