Popular reviews

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★ 1

  It's a testament to Wong Kar-wai's skill as a filmmaker that this very mediocre Hong Kong triad film is still frequently filled with genuine romantic yearning. What can I say? I'm a sucker for swooning synth sounds and dreamy neon photography. Also Maggie Cheung. 🥺

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  Review by davidehrlich ★★★½

  “None of us knows what’s going to happen tomorrow, right? Let’s eat.”

  It began, as all great careers should, with Maggie Cheung showing up on Andy Lau’s doorstep in a cotton face mask — and what better to set the tone for Wong Kar Wai’s filmography than a little social distancing?

  It’s easy to understand why people are quick to dismiss Wong’s debut as a foot-in-the-door movie beholden to the conventions of ‘80s Hong Kong crime thrillers (the film’s plot invites “Mean Streets” comparisons that haven’t extended to its place in the canon). “As Tears Go By” remains a fascinating document of a young artist trying to articulate his own identity through a language that lacked the vocabulary he needed…

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  Review by flynn ★★★ 2

  and they were cousins

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  Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★ 27

  Decades Project: 4/8 of the 80's

  "People like us don't have tomorrows."

  As Tears Go By is everything I love about Wong Kar-Wai. Even if it's not quite on par with some of his better work, it's still beautiful and fun and immensely impressive for a feature debut. Imagine if Mean Streets were directed by the late Tony Scott and you actually have a fairly accurate approximation of what it's like. Wong blends violent crime with romantic melodrama in a way that will make you think the two were born to be together. But as much as the film is deeply steeped in American genre traditions of the 1980's, it works just as hard to violate those traditions and become…

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  Review by Christina ★★★½ 6

  not his best film but once wong kar-wai & maggie cheung return from retirement, it’s over for you bitches

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  Review by PTAbro ★★★½ 12

  The most amazing thing about As Tears Go By is that for about an hour, it tricks you into thinking it's a gangster movie. It is not. It is a love story (both romantic and familial), and for someone who generally shies away from the romance genre, it hit me like a sucker punch. What Wong Kar-Wai does in detailing a gruff, violent Wah and then revealing that it was all just to accentuate the romantic aspect of him is not misdirection, though at first glance it could look like it. No, it made me realize that certain 'gangster' character types are essentially romantic underneath it all. There is a passion that ties violence with love. Instead of being on…

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  Review by Marcissus ★★★★ 3

  >23 year old chubby cheeked Maggie Cheung

  kill me

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  Review by Cory 👻 ★★★ 9

  "I just wanted to say—I found that glass."

  Half Triad action flick, half romantic melodrama. The film feels like a screenwriter-turned-director getting their feet wet, while also trying to figure out their own style as they go along. Not necessarily a bad thing, either—the influence of Scorsese's Mean Streets is prominent in it's foundation. Small flourishes of the style that WKW came to be known for are in there, too. Distinct edits, dream-like melodrama, thematic needledrops, & energetic action are scattered throughout it's runtime. I absolutely loved it's score—playing endless hours of Vice City as a boy made me a sucker for anything that resembles that ambient style.

  My problem comes from the cousin love story. Prepare to be uncomfortable, because…

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  Review by theriverjordan ★★★ 17

  Before director Wong Kar-wai painted his Hong Kong streetscapes with tears of unrequited love, he dabbled in the mediums of sweat, blood… and fish ball oil. 

  “As Tears Go By,” Wong’s first feature film, has him working within the 80s trend of action-oriented crime  flicks. Still, through the violence, the director’s eye for framing lost romantics adrift in nighttime metropolises is already evident. 

  “Tears,” compared narratively by many critics to Scorsese’s own early work, “Mean Streets,” does take many beats from classic gangster flicks in its depiction of two brothers trying to either make into - or just survive from - the triad. 

  What makes Wong distinct from his crime genre cohorts though; is that he pulls equally from another…

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  Review by benton tarantella

  “you know who's looking fine tonight? ngor.”
  “ok you did not just say that”
  “what? she’s a good kisser”
  “she is your cousin”
  “yeah but she's my first cousin”
  “right”
  “so, you have your cousins, and then you have your first cousins, and then you have your second cousins...”
  “no, wah, nuh-uh”
  “that’s not right, is it?”
  “that is so not right”

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  Review by PopcornIdeology ★★★

  I’m not going to lie, this movie is a bit of a mess, feeling more like a bad Scorsese imitation than what I’ve become accustomed to from Wong Kar-wai. As Tears Go By, being Wong Kar-wai’s debut film, you can tell he’s playing with a lot of ideas, and at times it feels like he’s sort of throwing things at the wall and trying to see what sticks. Not necessarily a bad film, but one that lacks specificity and nuance. There were also just a lot of dumb writing choices (random coincidences, people being shot and beaten then just miraculously going from place to place), the romance in the film really feels rushed and undercooked (oh and also incestuous), and I won’t…

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  Review by Shea ★★★½ 7

  "Stop being so good to me. I can't pay you back."