As Tears Go By

Wong Kar Wai’s directorial debut, As Tears Go By is a Scorsese-esque gangster film set on the streets of Mongkok, Hong Kong. Andy Lau plays a lowly mob official torn between a blossoming romance with his cousin (Maggie Cheung, in the first of many collaborations with the filmmaker) and his loyalty to his impulsive partner in crime (Jacky Cheung), whose reckless attempts to gain recognition result in a seemingly endless cycle of violence. The auteur’s introduction to what would become his unmistakable visual style, the film was a hit at Cannes for its unique impressionistic settings and profane romanticism. As Nathan Leen wrote in The New York Times, As Tears Go By is “a Wong Kar Wai film from the first frame to the last, [...] a work that finds its purpose in a tone (dreamy fatalism), a texture (impressionist grunge), and a pose (so, so cool).”