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Movies / On DVD / As Tears Go By
As Tears Go By

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As Tears Go By (1988)

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78 %
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Reviews Counted:9

Fresh:7

Rotten:2

Average Rating:6.9/10

Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Synopsis: A somber, atmospheric, almost brooding film set in the frenetic and garish Mongkok district in Hong Kong, AS TEARS GO BY is art house auteur and romantic Wong Kar-Wai's first feature film. It sets... A somber, atmospheric, almost brooding film set in the frenetic and garish Mongkok district in Hong Kong, AS TEARS GO BY is art house auteur and romantic Wong Kar-Wai's first feature film. It sets the tone of films to come, exemplary of the director's existential preoccupations and obsession with time, chance, and missed connection. At the heart of the story is Ah Wah (Andy Lau), a mobster with a protoge--Fly (Jackie Cheung)--who can't stay out of trouble. Continually landing in one hot spot after another, Fly depends on Wah to get him out of each mess, and though the local mob boss has told Wah to push Fly into another line of work, Wah can't seem to say no to his friend. When his sick cousin (Maggie Cheung) comes to stay with him, he tries to keep his unsavory existence from entering her life, but to no avail. Fly's continual crises impinge on the love that begins to grow between the two, and though he begins to rethink his life, no good can come of this triangle. All the characters are very real, doing precisely the things they should not be doing in a hopeless scramble for happiness. [More]

Starring: Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung

Starring: Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung

Director: Wong Kar-Wai

Director: Wong Kar-Wai

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Oct 19, 2004

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for As Tears Go By

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1 - 10 (sorted by date)
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The pinwheeling, phosphorescent spirit is undiluted Wong Kar-wai

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
10/10/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Gerald Peary
Gerald Peary
Boston Phoenix

This sounds like a fairly standard debut. But Wong smothers the story with tremendous style.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
08/22/08
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As Tears Go By doesn't measure up to Wong's later classics, such as In the Mood for Love (2000) and Chungking Express (1994), but it shows a master in the making.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
05/02/08
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Unpersuasive as drama, Tears is the first and last Wong movie touched by any feel of the obligatory.

comment 1 Comment
05/02/08
Nathan Lee
Nathan Lee
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Long before Wong Kar-wai perfected his dreamy, ennui-infused aesthetic (or got hopelessly stuck in blueberry goo), he made a name for himself with this warhorse tale of small-time hoods on the road to ruin.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
04/30/08
David Fear
David Fear
Time Out New York

Ostensibly a conventional tale of triad loyalty, As Tears Go By announced the presence of a genuine Hong Kong new wave -- as well as an ambitious cineaste.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
04/30/08
J. Hoberman
J. Hoberman
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A cut above the usual HK action melodrama all the same.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Time Out

A rich and kinetic portrait of the Hong Kong underworld and its system of pseudo-familial relationships and obligations

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
01/25/05
Leo Goldsmith
Leo Goldsmith
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

A stylish if formulaic addition to the seemingly endless onslaught of crime films that dominated the Hong Kong cinema of the late Eighties.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
05/02/03
Joey O'Bryan
Joey O'Bryan
Austin Chronicle
 
 
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