As Tears Go By
Director: Wong Kar-wai
Year: 1988
Rating: 7.5/8.0
After having been
a screenwriter (Saviour of the Soul, Final Victory, Haunted Cop Shop) for
a few years, Wong Kar Wai finally got the opportunity to direct his first
film. It is somewhat ironic that he got his start in the films as a screenwriter
as he is notorious as a director for writing the script as the film progresses.
Though many of his following films have received much more critical acclaim
than this first film, As Tears Go By has thus far been his most successful
one at the box office. Part of that may be that it is a much more conventional
than his future films in terms of story, editing and time line. Even though
in some ways the story is structured as an unbreakable circle, there is no
use of flashbacks or non-sequenced events. The story is very bare bones.
Andy Lau is a lowly young triad member
who falls in love with a good rural girl, Maggie Cheung, from Lantau Island,
but the intricate web of Triad obligations draws him like a magnet to the
inevitable conclusion. He is Big Brother to Jacky Cheung who is a totally
irresponsible punk with a big chip on his shoulder. Lau is constantly having
to get him out of trouble with other triad members. The obligation web goes
even deeper though because Jacky is a Big Brother to an even lower member
(Ronald Wong Pan) and to win face from him he volunteers for a suicide hit.
This obligates Lau. Around this almost generic story WKW creates a fair amount
of tension and displays some of the editing techniques that he utilizes to
better effect in later films.
There are some powerful scenes - Lau attacking
a Triad guy with a knife - done in jerky editing fashion, when he whips his
gun out and puts it down the pants of a guy and pulls the trigger, an almost
musical video number to a Cantonese version of “You Take my Breath
Away” that portrays the realization between Andy and Maggie of how much they
care for one another, the moment when Maggie hesitates for a minute before
she slowly walks upstairs to sleep with Andy and the final lingering frame.
The relationships though do not play out
true for the most part. I never felt that the affection between Andy and
Maggie was more than a temporary infatuation and Jacky is such a loser that
Lau’s feeling of sacrificial obligation to him seems more absurd and stupid
than noble. It is an interesting film though in many ways. Certainly the
hierarchical structure within the triad world is complex and intriguing.
At first while watching the film you think that Lau is some up and coming
big shot Triad member, but as the movie progresses you start to realize what
a small potato he is and what a little patch of Kowloon that he presides
over. As he later says to Jacky “I made my first hit at fourteen. I was a
big hero for a while, but today I am a nobody.” Except to Jacky Cheung unfortunately.
My rating for this film: 7.5
Reviewed by YTSL
To once again emphasize the diversity and breadth
of Hong Kong movies: On one hand, there are the fantasies (it does make
me laugh when at the end of something like "The East is Red", there is that
usual disclaimer about any resemblance to real people or events being entirely
coincidental!) and -- different but still maybe unbelievable – somewhat whimsical,
naive takes on everyday matters (How could a policeman be so oblivious as
Tony Leung's character in "Chungking Express" or as sensitive as Leo Koo's
in "Task Force"?); while on the other, there are those cinematic works which
are surely grittier and deliberately unglamorous -- especially with regards
to brutality -- than most produced anywhere else in the world. And trust
Wong Kar Wai, even in/for his directorial debut, to come up with his own
twist with regards to a tried and true genre: The triad film.
IMHO, someone who has viewed (all of) Wong's
later efforts before they look at AS TEARS GO BY can see quite a bit of what
was to come in this critical AND commercial success. Among others:
A combined view of the sky plus housing and the chase scenes in this 1988
movie are reminiscent of that of "Chungking Express"; some of the fight
scenes -- and it should be remembered that Hong Kong triad members are as
likely to utilize machetes for weapons as well as guns -- will make one think
of "Ashes of Time"; the green view of Lantau Island is similar to the tropical
images found in "Days of Being Wild". And what is it with Wong and cats
(the way that it seems to be with Tsui Hark and butterflies)?! Then
there's the love relations that other parts of life -- along with aspects
of individual personalities -- seems to keep interfering with and getting
in the way of...
For all the hullabaloo about the innovative and
weird filming techniques and camera angles that are to be found in Wong's
offerings (and it is interesting to note that he has only worked with two
cinematographers so far: Christopher Doyle, and -- for this production,
"Days of Being Wild" and part of "Chungking Express" -- Andrew Lau), I think
it can be forgotten that many of this man's movies -- IMHO, typically of those
from the former British crown colony -- are quite personal in scope and,
coincidingly, very good actor-reliant. In AS TEARS GO BY, Andy Lau
(NOT the same person as the cinematographer; perhaps more confusingly, the
actor is also a popular singer and the cinematographer also has become a
successful director in his own right) gives an amazing performance as a Triad
"big brother" whose loyalty to and care for his "little brother" is so much
more than that hothead deserves.
And this (re)viewer is in awe of Cantopop King
Jacky Cheung -- who won a Best Supporting Actor award for this performance
-- for being willing to play the lowlife loser character that he does in
this film. Maggie Cheung -- who only after AS TEARS GO BY, began to
be thought of possibly more just than the cute but pouty and/or dumb girl
next door – portrays the cousin whose Andy Lau's character seems to actually
be capable of loving rather than just lusting after (The -- unanswered –
question though is why would she prefer him to the doctor?).
For better or worse, Wong Kar Wai's first movie
definitely has a more discernible storyline as well as straightforward plot
than his other efforts. This still doesn't make it entirely conventional
though.
Chuck Stephens has suggested in his AS TEARS GO
BY review that the controversial as well as celebrated filmmaker "may be one
of the few HK directors more interested in making films ABOUT violence than
simply making violent films" (In Stefan Hammond and Mike Wilkins' ""Sex and
Zen" & "A Bullet in the Head"" book). My particular sense – gained
from this and others of his presentations -- is that one of Wong's major
messages is: "Make love, not war. Except that because of obligations,
pride and such, this is easier to hope for than to effect."
My rating for this film: 8.0
