As Tears Go By
Wong Kar-wai's cinema was characterized at the turn of the 2000s by his ability to create powerful images with virtuosity expressing sensations, emotions, and moods. Composing and detailing atmospheres is a work of art exposing at best the symbiotic relationship that sometimes develops between the filmmaker and his director of photography. This cycle includes the very rarely shown The Hand which articulates a diptych with In the Mood for Love.
Wong Kar Wai’s scintillating debut feature is a kinetic, hyper-cool crime thriller graced with flashes of the impressionistic, daydream visual style for which he would become renowned. Set amidst Hong Kong’s ruthless, neon-lit gangland underworld, this operatic saga of ambition, honor, and revenge stars Andy Lau as a small-time mob enforcer who finds himself torn between a burgeoning romance with his ailing cousin and his loyalty to his loose cannon partner in crime whose reckless attempts to make a name for himself unleash a spiral of violence. Marrying the pulp pleasures of the gritty Hong Kong action drama with hints of the head-rush romanticism Wong would push to intoxicating heights throughout the 1990s, As Tears Go By was a box office smash that heralded the arrival of one of contemporary cinema’s most electrifying talents. (Janus Films)
Wong Kar-wai
Born in Shanghai in 1958, Wong Kar-wai moved to Hong Kong as a child. For ten years, he was separated from his siblings, blocked in China due to the Cultural Revolution. This personal and collective upheaval undoubtedly permeated his work to come. After his studies, he became a production assistant, and a screenwriter for television. He joined Barry Wong's team, which introduced him to the film industry, and notably wrote the screenplay for Final Victory, directed by Patrick Tam, who also produced his directorial debut, As Tears Go By (1988). By the 1990s, Wong was working with some of Hong Kong's biggest stars. Exploring very different genres, he achieved both critical and popular success with films like Ashes of Time, Chungking Express, and Happy Together, cementing his place on the global stage. He solidified his reputation in the 2000s with In the Mood for Love and 2046. After a brief foray into American cinema (My Blueberry Nights), he reunited with his long-time collaborator Tony Leung, and Hong Kong history in The Grandmaster.
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As Tear Go By by Wong Kar-wai
As Tear Go By by Wong Kar-wai
As Tear Go By by Wong Kar-wai
As Tear Go By by Wong Kar-wai
As Tear Go By by Wong Kar-wai
As Tear Go By by Wong Kar-wai
