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THE MOVIE
As Tears Go By was written and directed by Wong Kar Wai and it was the first film he had directed (he had been the screenwriter for six previous films). Made in 1988 this low budget film, starred Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung and Jacky Cheung.
Andy Lau plays Brother Wah, a debt collector for the triads, who we meet one morning when an Aunt calls to say that one of his cousins Ngor (Maggie Cheung) is coming from Lantau to stay with him for a few days while she has some medical tests done in Kowloon. The two are at first like oil and water but a connection is undeniably made between them. However against the backdrop of this potential new relationship is the antics of Wah’s little brother or sidekick Fly (Jacky Cheung) who is something of a hot head and is constantly getting into scrapes particular with another big brother, Kung (William Chang Kau Lam) that only Wah can pull him out of. It seems only a matter of time before Fly will get himself killed and possibly pull down Wah with him and Wah is faced with some hard choices about his life, and in particular where he takes his relationships with Ngor and Fly.
As Tears Go By is a film about love and friendship set against the backdrop of a gangster film and in comparison with Wong Kar Wai’s more recent films his story telling skills, particularly his visual story telling skills are still very much in their infancy. Looking at the film in retrospect Wong Kar Wai has come a phenomenal way since As Tears Go By. Having only seen the film in 2005 I must confess I was a little underwhelmed. The film is at times melodramatic, Maggie Cheung is underutilized and you also have problems of wooden acting by some of the cast, action sequences which are poorly shot and music which serves to undermine, rather than enhance the film, particularly the canto pop version of You Take My Breath Away, which is laughable. On the whole this will be one for Wong Kar Wai completists in the main and for those going in expecting In the Mood for Love or 2046 you will probably be disappointed.
THE TRANSFER
Video:
This is a generally poor video transfer (4-5 mbps), which does not look much better than an old video copy of the film. The colours are somewhat muted, there is grain, video artefacts and extensive print damage.
Audio:
A serviceable 2.0 soundtrack is provided (bit rate 224 kbps). The dialogue is in Cantonese with English subtitles. There is one occasion where the audio seems slightly out of sync and generally the score and other effects sound ok, if a little thin.
THE EXTRAS
There are no extras provided apart from a trailer for Wong Kai War’s latest film 2046. The UK edition of the film includes a booklet with film notes by David Parkinson, while the Hong Kong edition has a 5.1 audio track.
SUMMARY
As Tears Go By was written and directed by Wong Kar Wai and marked his directorial debut with a film about love and friendship set against the backdrop of a gangster film. Time has not been overly kind to the film and it will be one for Wong Kar Wai completists in the main. The films release on DVD is also a little disappointing with a very ordinary video transfer (which does not look much better than an old video), a serviceable audio transfer and no extras. |
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