Wong Kar Wai’s scintillating debut feature is a kinetic crime thriller graced with flashes of the impressionistic, daydream visual style for which he would become renowned.
Set amidst Hong Kong’s neon-lit gangland underworld, this operatic saga of ambition, honour, and revenge stars Andy Lau as a small-time mob enforcer who finds himself torn between a burgeoning romance with his ailing cousin (Maggie Cheung, in the first of her iconic collaborations with the director) and his loyalty to his loose cannon partner in crime (Jacky Cheung).
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 heralded the arrival of one of contemporary cinema’s most electrifying talents.