As Tears Go By (1988)

The cousin of the "big brother, Ngor comes from the Lantau Island of Hong Kong while Wah himself lives in Kowloon. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Kar-Wai Wong
Written By: Kar-Wai Wong
Starring: Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung, Alex Man, Ronald Wong, Kau Lam, Tseng Chang, To-hoi Kong, Ching Wai, Pa-Ching Huang, William Chang, Ang Wong
Genre: Drama
AKA: Wong gok ka moon
Country: Hong Kong
Where to Stream
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As Tears Go By belongs to 8 collections
1. Directorial debut (collaborative: moderated by djross - 16 stars)
2. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)
3. Hong Kong Film Awards' List of The Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 6 stars)
4. LoveHKFilm: The Best 200 Hong Kong Films Ever (public: edkrak - 3 stars)
5. Criterion Collection (Blu-ray and 4K) (public: PepeCamello - 3 stars)
6. Vaporwave aesthetics (collaborative: moderated by Ghalea - 2 stars)
7. Top 50 Most Want to See (public: kendell - 2 stars)
8. Heroic Bloodshed (collaborative: moderated by Vandelay1 - 1 star)
Browse the full list of collections
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
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Sep 20, 2021 | ![]() |
lofisofi | 15 15th |
wong kar wai's affectations make this by the numbers hk melodrama worse, not better
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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.
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Aug 06, 2021 | ![]() |
metis | 70 45th |
???????????????????/???????
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Jul 24, 2021 | ![]() |
hyporealist | 19 17th |
completely incomprehensible and boring
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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.
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Nov 20, 2020 | zwyk | 65 45th |
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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.
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Jul 16, 2014 | Nepeta | 50 17th |
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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.
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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.
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Apr 19, 2014 | ![]() |
graveyardtan | 75 44th |
Wack move with a great soundtrack.
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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.
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Oct 07, 2013 | glm01 | 77 55th |
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76.500
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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.
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Mar 22, 2013 | ![]() |
loc42 | 55 32nd |
poor story, but his style is remarkable
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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.
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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.
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May 06, 2009 | ![]() |
joseywales | 75 73rd |
Great forbidden romance from WKW
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Jan 05, 2009 | ![]() |
QVT | 70 74th |
Anything related to Fly was terrible, but the romance is fantastic.
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Nov 29, 2008 | ![]() |
kafka1325 | 61 57th |
Sometimes it was "rude" and has similarity with Mean Streets... But all to all ok....
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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.
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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.
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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).
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Average Percentile 49.9% from 457 Ratings | ![]() |