As Tears Go By
A closer look at As Tears Go By

When Wong Kar Wai directed As Tears Go By in 1988, he wanted to do something different from all the 'A Better Tomorrow' clones overflowing theatres in HK. The originality of As Tears Go By was to mix typical elements from these movies with a touching love story.

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As Tears Go By (ATG) took part in the Cannes film festival and was acclaimed by critics from all over the world. However, it hasn't been distributed in France yet!

Credit
HONGKONG/1988
Love is impossibleLitterally: Carmen of the Streets.
Script, director: Wong Kar-wai.
Producer: Rover Tang.
Executive Producer: Alan Tang (In Gear Production).
Cinematography: Andrew Lau Wai Keung.
Art director: William Chang Suk-ping.
Editor: Peter Chiang.
Music: Danny Cheung.  

Actors: Andy Lau Tak-wah (Ah Wah), Maggie Cheung Man-yuk (Ah Ngor), Jacky Cheung Hok-yau (Fly), Alex Man.
Running time: 95 min.
Success in HK: 1988, 32th out of 136 at the box office (1st: Eighth Happiness). In Theatres: 29 days (from 09/06/88 to 07/07/88).
Gross: 11,532,283.HK$ (best gross of the year: 37,090,776 HK$).
Awards: HK Festival Film Awards, Best film of the year.

The second part of a trilogy
Maggie Cheung in As Tears Go ByWong Kar Wai wrote the story during the production of the Patrick Tam's Final Victory (1987). He then directed ATG in 1988. He wanted to do something different from all the 'A Better Tomorrow' clones overflowing theatres in HK. In these movies, a hero has a strong sense of honour but still serves the triads interests. The originality of ATG was to mix these typical elements with a love story and displaying more feelings than the usual Triad movie.

ATG is a part of a trilogy that still has not been completed yet:

-First part: 'Hero Of A Day' deals about the teenage of the main character. This part has never been shot.

-Second part: 'As Tear Go By', when the hero is 20 something.

-Third part: is 'The Final Victory' (1987), when the hero is 30 years old. The script was written by Wong Kar Wai and the movie was directed by New Wave director Patrick Tam (Nomad, The Sword).

Inspiration
ATG is an original thriller, a film noir or a 'polar' as we say in France to describe the genre. The main character is Ah Wah (Andy Lau in one of his best performances), inspired by the hero of Martin Scorcese's Mean Street, and performed by Robert De Niro.
As for the rest, Wong Kar Wai used his own experience to recreate such dark environment, a mix of brotherhood, honour and illegal activities. He spent his childhood in a very popular quarter of Hong-Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui. This is one of the hottest places in town, packed with bars, clubs and 'Suzy Wong', i.e. 'hostesses from sailor bars'.
Later Wong Kar Wai became a scriptwriter and had for friend a stuntman who was used to live as a true gangster. Wong Kar Wai has always felt attracted by such nightclubs and doddgy places. His friend and him spent nights wandering around these places. This movie is therefore very personal and reveals Wong Kar Wai doubts and existentialistic questions at this time of his life, through the character of Ah Wah.

Premise
Even if Wong Kar Wai introduced straight from his first feature his own themes and obsessions, the linear plot is really different from the rest of his others movies until Happy Together. As a young director, Wong Kar Wai thought that he had to follow the rules of the local cinema. He believed that to tell a story that could attract the audience, he had to respect strictly the unbreakable dogma set up by others before him.
Wong Kar Wai gave us however a weird sample of his style that would improve and would become his trademark in the following features. Right from the start, he displayed his mythic habits. The script has already been changed over and over again to take into account the actor personalities.
The premise of the Wong Kar Wai style appeared to the audience like that. For instance, a fight scene was shot with a hand held camera and with slow motion effects and saturated colours.

Fly, the wild kidAndy Lau is Ah Wah

A Catalyst
ATG grossed a rather good amount of money: HK$ 11 millions, at the local box office. It received nine nominations for the HK Film Festival (the Cantonese equivalent to the Cannes Festival). ATG archived great triumphs in Korea and in Taiwan as well, and it has attracted a lot of investments, which allowed Wong Kar Wai to direct in 1989 Days Of Being Wild.
ATG is not yet forgotten and has stayed in memories. The proof is that some directors keep copying it. A True Mob Story is a good example. This movie directed by Wong Jing in 1998 deals about a kind-hearted triad boss (Andy Lau again) who is split between his duties as a triad member and the safety of his brothers.

Written by Thomas, March 2002.

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