Film Review: As tears go by

As tears go by
- a film by Wong Kar-Wai

Directed By: Wong Kar-Wai

Written By: Wong Kar-Wai

Released in: 1988

Starring: Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung

Genre: Crime/ Drama

The story follows a Kowloon-dwelling triad brother, Wah, inn his day-to-day life that consists mostly of bailing his 'little brother', Fly, out of trouble with the big guys. Amidst this temperamental scene, Wah's cousin comes to stay, and they in turn fall into a love affair complicated by Wah's triad life.
She has the power to change his life, but after Fly's promise to assassinate a squealer to up his rep, Wah has no choice but to leave his cousin forever and help his friend once and for all.

http://shangols.canalblog.com/images/As_Tears_Go_By_Aff3.jpg

A brilliant piece of cinematography. This was my first proper experience of a 'Wong Kar-Wai' film, and although I am not completely familiar with what makes it unique (yet!), I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the language divide. At first glance, the characters are shallow and meaningless, but through great shots and interesting occurrences, they turn out to be captivating. As aforementioned, the shots and filming style added a lot to the film. Though they sometimes seem unconnected, such as the first shot of the film with the rows of television screens, they help to set up the correct atmosphere to put the viewer into the right frame of mind. Harsh, abrasive colors gave me a sense of what triad-strewn Kowloon might have been like, whereas the disjointed cuts (point of view, thoughts, where character is) show what the character is thinking and feeling while keeping up the interest of the viewer.

While watching this film I noticed a number of cinematography styles, and I learnt some new ones. One of these was a type of montage, where clips that were not necessarily related, or in the same vicinity, are linked together to create a certain feeling. This was especially the case when Wah dies at the end, and he gets a flash from the past of the phonebooth kissing scene with his cousin. This was really effective at making the audience sympathize with him, as they are reminded that he is human. It also let them know that he was definitely dying, as that could have been a cause for confusion. Another style of film that I noticed was where the scene was slowed down. However it was not only slowed down, as that is simply slow-motion; it had a certain, strange, quality to it. Julien told me that this is something called undercranking (I think that is what it is called), where the film is captured at a slower frame rate, so that it looks slower, but sped up. This method was used a lot, particularly during the fight scenes. This really have the viewer time to pay attention and realize what was going on, while at the same time be able to fully take in all the action. I really liked this, as while it maintained the illusion of belief, it 'mixed it up' and kept the viewer interested.

Overall, a very intriguing film.