As Tears Go By (1988)

Date	User	Rating
Jun 11, 2022	Bown	76 _40th
This is your quintessential promising debut pretty much. If you were to watch this when it came out, you’d be like “this director is very promising!” and then get to spend the next 15 years having your belief rewarded over and over
Sep 20, 2021	lofisofi	15 _15th
wong kar wai's affectations make this by the numbers hk melodrama worse, not better
Aug 26, 2021	moraesfelipe	75 _80th
Stylish triad actioner caught between bloodshed in the tradition of HK's male-weeping pop cinema and auteur's unmistakable signature (melancholic and dreamy characters in a neon-lit, foggy, rainy HK), as we follow gangster torn between falling for his cousin and trying to look after his younger bro (nicknamed Fly) -- hothead who can't keep job or work for the mob and just wants to be as badass as his bro. Take My Breath Away's chinese cover as Lau/Cheung kiss in a phone booth is just pure bliss.
Aug 06, 2021	metis	70 _45th
???????????????????/???????
Jul 24, 2021	hyporealist	19 _17th
completely incomprehensible and boring
Feb 06, 2021	NathanBates	60 _34th
Mid-range 80s Hong Kong gangster movie with a romantic subplot. I don't know much about WKW, but I'm guessing that he has a soundtrack in his head before he starts writing the movie. Some interesting stylistic choices make the pretty standard plot feel a little different for a while.
Nov 20, 2020	zwyk	65 _45th
There's a very violent life with great tension, the desire of relevance, the conflict with enemies; and, all of this have a strong contrast with a strong family bond that goes to the ultimate sacrifice and the beauty of a romantic love affair. The plot turns out to be very violent and emotional at the same time, which makes it look very real and bittersweet.
Mar 22, 2020	Alex Watkins	4 _70th
As Tears Go By riffs on many of the most common Hong Kong crime film cliches: a young gangster torn between love and duty, romance and revenge. But oh, what style Wong tells it with. Few feature debuts have ever been so stylistically assured and awe-inspiring. His visual sensibility was already well in place. And frankly, I happen to love those HK cliches...
Jan 27, 2019	peyrin	65 _42nd
If we're doing Mean Streets comparisons I actually think this is the better looking film by far. Dunno if it was the wonky subtitles on my copy or what but the actual gangster stuff was a bit all over the place.
Dec 07, 2017	Yiannos	58 _41st
(Viewed on 28/04/14): Awkward debut from Wong Kar-Wai has been described as an Asian Mean Streets. It isn't a bad comparison, but the crime scenes are not always well handled, the tone is wobbly, and it's quite typical of HK films of its time. Traces of his future style definitely break through, especially in moody scenes that express the longing of his characters, romantic or otherwise. Just try getting the Cantonese version of Take My Breath Away out of your head after hearing it.
Jan 07, 2017	Nathan S	3 _45th
It is romanticized, melodramatic schlock (my god, that score and soundtrack), but anything set in 1980s Hong Kong has my eye, and there is something to be said for this film's visual schemes, which are kind of incredible. It is told in quick cuts and bold gestures, almost Bressonian (no really) in its essential simplicity.
Jan 30, 2016	ronthedog	77 _25th
Stylish with some breathtaking shots and lighting, but otherwise this is a pretty naff film with an awful soundtrack, and uninteresting plot.
Jan 27, 2016	hsncrspywl	55 _22nd
Pretty blah but some nice shots here and there. Totally Mean Streets, and it's really unfortunate. Bad dubbing too.
Jul 16, 2014	Nepeta	50 _17th
It's basically Mean Streets but set in Hong Kong and nowhere near as good. You wouldn't recognize this as a Wong film if you hadn't been told. The absolutely dreadful, cheesy '80s soundtrack on its own ruins the film, though it's nothing special in the first place. It's just a fairly straight forward decent Hong Kong crime film with a really good romance plot attached all presented in a slightly amateurish way (lame music, lame dubbing - why does everyone shout half the time?). Meh.
Jul 04, 2014	wetwillies	80 _37th
Viewed July 3, 2014. I mostly watched this because I heard there was a Chinese version of "Take My Breath Away" in it, so maybe I'm just not cut out for this movie shit.
Apr 19, 2014	graveyardtan	75 _44th
Wack move with a great soundtrack.
Feb 23, 2014	karamazov.	56 _75th
Very enjoyable Scorsese rip-off [and cousin-love story... uh O.o]. Con: no Doyle; pro: it's the '80s. Still have never made up my mind as to whether or not the super low frame rate scenes in "Chungking Express" are cool or just annoying, but the sequences with low fps and slow-mo. were super awesome in this one. Dialogue, photography, editing are gloriously cheesy.
Oct 07, 2013	glm01	77 _55th
76.500
May 07, 2013	zae	70 _53rd
Solid debut film by Wong Kar Wai, if a bit rough around the edges, as debuts tend to be.
Mar 22, 2013	loc42	55 _32nd
poor story, but his style is remarkable
Aug 04, 2012	DetoxP	1 _0th
It's got some good touches that hint at what Wong Kar-Wai would train and master in the future, but it's a little unfocused. It is his debut, after all. From beginning to end it feels like a Wong Kar-Wai film already, although maybe in some parallel dimension where he was never that good. Some touches of brilliance and a great climax, but a little too slow, a little too cliched, and a little too boring. Score is not a grade.
Feb 23, 2011	natebarrios	70 _56th
Impressive visuals for the time it was made, proving Wong has an innate skill no matter the circumstance. The dialogue gets to be cheesy at some points, and parts of the romance subplot bothered me, but overall it's not bad. Still, watch Mean Streets before you see this movie.
May 06, 2009	joseywales	75 _73rd
Great forbidden romance from WKW
Jan 05, 2009	QVT	70 _74th
Anything related to Fly was terrible, but the romance is fantastic.
Nov 29, 2008	kafka1325	61 _57th
Sometimes it was "rude" and has similarity with Mean Streets... But all to all ok....
May 18, 2008	roujin	50 _34th
Interesting debut by Wong Kar-Wai. It's more HK action flick meets Mean Streets than anything else but it's worth watching regardless.
Aug 14, 2007	sdfkt	78 _37th
wong kar-wais debut. typical heroic bloodshed, but you can already see what this director would eb capable of in the future.
Aug 14, 2007	MartinTeller	59 _16th
Wong Kar Wai's first film. Like a Hong Kong version of Mean Streets except... not very good. Predictable and clichéd and poor production value (bad dubbing, silly use of slo-mo and other corny camera tricks, lousy choice of 80's cheese music).

Average Percentile 49.9% from 457 Ratings