As Tears Go By (1988)
"Wong gok ka moon" (original title)

Two parallel stories of Wah caught in the mist of a love affair with his beloved cousin, Ngor and his relationship with his triad brother, Fly, who seems to never far out of trouble.

Director:

Kar Wai Wong

Writers:

Jeffrey Lau, Kar Wai Wong

Stars:

Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung

2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Andy Lau	...	Wah
Maggie Cheung	...	Ngor
Jacky Cheung	...	Fly
Alex Man	...	Tony
Ronald Wong	...	Site
To-hoi Kong	...	Fat Carl
Ching Wai	...	Uncle Kwan
Kau Lam	...	Uncle Ba
William Chang	...	Ngor's doctor
Ang Wong	...	Mabel
Pa-Ching Huang	...	Boss of Mahjong Den
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chi Fai Chan	...	Billiard parlor thug
Man-Ho Chan
Tseng Chang	...	Wah's triad elder
Wing-Cheung Cheung	...	Bodyguard

Storyline

A low-level triad "big brother" has a hot-tempered "little brother" who can't keep out of trouble, and consequently is in constant need of being bailed out by his protector. The "big brother" is super cool, but lacks the ambition to rise in the ranks of the triad societies - and once he meets his cousin from Kowloon and falls in love with her, he even thinks about leaving "the life".

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Plot Keywords:

remake | pool hall | revenge | cigarette smoking | marriage | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Release Date:

2 May 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Carmen of the Streets

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$4,279 (USA) (2 May 2008)

Gross:

$8,440 (USA) (9 May 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

In-Gear Film Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First film directed by Kar Wai Wong.

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Goofs

Wah's facial bruises shift tremendously near the final scene from the time he got on the bus to the time he met Fly.

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Quotes

Wah: I did a lot of things for our godfather too. By the age of 14, I was already getting paid to kill. I've got more guts than most guys, right? But look at me now. I'm just an ordinary guy!
Fly: At least you were a hotshot for a while! But what about me? What about me? Everyone looks down on me. Does that make you happy? People think I'm nothing, like some stray dog just following you around! Did you know that? I'd rather be a hero for one day than go on being a fly all my life!

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Soundtracks

"Take My Breath Away"
Written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock

User Reviews

Equally Watchable As "A Better Tomorrow"!

Two superstars who dominated the Hong Kong art movies in 90's were produced by this movie, Kar-Wai Wong and Maggie Cheung, although to a large extent "As Tears Go By" is a commercial movie. Maggie Cheung has said it was the first time she knew acting was something beyond making simple expression. Before "As Tears Go By", she was a "vase" rather than a professional actress. The story talks about two gangsters and their friendship. Very typical style of Hong Kong gangster movies. But with a good script and a good director, the movie is indeed very watchable. Wong made the movie visually very attractive. The camera movement and angle are remarkable and in fact have showed the style we can see later in Wong's "Chungking Express"(1994). Equally outstanding is the description to the characters especially the one played by Jacky Cheung - a loser who are willing to give up his life in order to obtain a very short-term respect. All the actors performed very well. The style is very different from that of other gangster movies. May not be better than, but at least equally watchable as "A Better Tomorrow" of John Woo and absolutely a movie worth seeing.