Movie Review: As Tears Go By

As Tears Go By (Wong gok ka moon) a.k.a Carmen of the Streets 

In-Gear Film Production, Hong Kong, 1988. 

Low-level Triad-gangster Ah-Wah (Andy Lau) gets visitor, his cousin Ah-Ngor (Maggie Cheung) who has lung-problems. Wah's "little-brother" Fly (Jacky Cheung) is hot-tempered but lacks authority that is needed in debt-collecting business. Wah does his best to protect him. 

Ah-Wah

Ah-Ngor

Fly

Wah's girlfriend Mabel (Ang Wong) gets an abortion without asking Wah first. In a fit of rage Wah wrecks his apartment being rude to Ngor. Later Wah apologises and there is romantic sparking between the two. Meanwhile Fly and his friend Ah-Site (Ronald Wong) get indebted to billiard parlor thug (Chi Fai Chan) and they get badly beaten up. Wah goes to seek revenge. Ngor returns home but invites Wah to visit sometime.

Billiard parlor thug

Tony

Ah-Site gets married and leaves behind the gangster life. Later gangster named Tony (Alex Man) comes to demand debts from Fly. Wah tries to solve the debt problem by robbing Tony's boss (!). Local godfather Uncle Kwan (Ching Wai) must intervene and order Tony, Wah and Fly to cool-off. Kwan also orders that one of the three must kill snitch Big-Mouth Kay (Tat-Wah Gan) before trial. As Fly is too reckless, he gets a job selling street food but he messes even that up. 

Wah goes to Lantau Island to meet Ngor and almost leaves his gangster life to stay with her. Fly gets into trouble with Tony and Wah's loyalty towards him forces him to return to Hong Kong. Fly wants to do something that would make him respected in the Triad-society although Wah warns that there is no honour in mob life.

Fly wants respect

Wong Kar-wai started his directing career with stylish gangster drama. It is not John Woo- style bullet ballet but more realistic crime film, kind of remake of Scorcese's "Mean Streets." It is a tragic tale of a gangster who wants to leave the crime business but is constantly getting dragged back by his reckless friend. Stylistically it looks more hazy than other HK crime flicks of the era with jerky slow-motion (that he used also in "Ashes of Time") and cold neon lights creating the urban atmosphere. In contrast the scenes in Lantau island use warm natural light. Before this Kar-Wai wrote scripts to mainly forgotten flicks, and his skills as director are not yet fully refined but already show hints of his trademark style especially in the scenes with Lau and Cheung. The crime story itself is quite straightforward and follows the genre traditions of friendship, revenge, duty and honour. The theme of unrequited love is explored further in almost all later Wong Kar-wai films. Soundtrack has good 1980s HK-pop including Cantonese version of "Take My Breath Away" by Sandy Lam Yik Lin.

Part of The 2016 Movie Watching Challenge (#10. The first movie of a celebrated director)

Rating: Good 

Starring: Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung, Alex Man, Ronald Wong, To-Hoi Kong, Ching Wai, Kau Lam, William Chang, Ang Wong, Pa-Ching Huang, Chi Fai Chan, Man-Ho Chan, Tseng Chang, Wing-Cheung Cheung, Wing-Hon Cheung, Kam Kong Chow, Kwai-Bo Chun, Pak Fei, Tat-Wah Gan, Fan Hui, Chi Kit Lee, Kong Long, Keung-Fai Pong, Tai Wo Tang, Chi Wai Wong, Kim Fung Wong

Director: Wong Kar-wai