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Issue #138 HOME E-mail: mail@dighkmovies.com BACK ISSUES December 16th, 2002

As Tears Go By
(1988; In-Gear Film Production Co.)

RATING 10
A Masterpiece
9
Excellent
8
Highly Recommended
7
Very Good
6
Recommended
5
Marginal Recommendation
4
Not Recommended
3
Poor
2
Definitely Not Recommended
1
Dreadful

Days of Being Wild
(1991; In-Gear Film Production Co.)

RATING 10
A Masterpiece
9
Excellent
8
Highly Recommended
7
Very Good
6
Recommended
5
Marginal Recommendation
4
Not Recommended
3
Poor
2
Definitely Not Recommended
1
Dreadful

AS TEARS GO BY
Cantonese: Wong kok Ka Moon
Mandarin: Wang jiao Ka Men
English: Mongkok Carmen

DAYS OF BEING WILD
Cantonese: Ah Fei ching chuen
Mandarin: A Fei zheng chuan
English: The True Story of Ah Fei

Wong Kar-wai's directorial debut, AS TEARS GO BY is a visually striking triad thriller/romance that pales somewhat in comparison to his later work but is more stylish and involving than much of the competition from this time. Gangster Wah (Andy Lau Tak-wah) is visited one day by his pretty cousin, Ngor (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, looped by another actress), who has come from Lantau Island to Kowloon to get medical treatment for a lung condition. The hot-tempered man and the timid girl have little in common and can barely communicate at first but, gradually, become more and more comfortable together. Wah's buddy, Fly (Jacky Cheung Hok-yau), has a hair-trigger temper that constantly gets him into trouble, necessitating that Wah act on his behalf. It is clear that Fly is a timebomb whose days are numbered but Wah steadfastly stands by him nonetheless. After vacillating for some time, Wah finally breaks down and visits Ngor on Lantau. The two begin a relationship that looks as if it will soon blossom into a full-fledged romance. However, Fly has, once again, crossed the line and, this time, Wah's rescue of his friend enrages demented triad boss Tony (Alex Man Chi-leung, devouring the scenery in his trademark fashion). The gangster and his men severely beat and humiliate Wah and Fly, prompting the latter to accept what will almost certainly be a fatal assignment (silencing an informant in police custody, before the man can testify in court), as a way of regaining face.

Inspired by MEAN STREETS, this is the most straightforward of Wong's movies, having been produced from an actual script, as opposed to the improv methods the director would become noted for. While some of Wong's trademarks are already in place (particularly his stylistically distorted action scenes), the film also utilizes traditional devices like "hit single" interludes (including a Canto cover of Berlin's "Take My Breath Away") to help sell its emotions and a storyline that rarely strays from triad movie conventions. Regardless, the high quality of the performances, Danny Chung Teng-yat's excellent score, and Andrew Lau Wai-keung's slick cinematography keep it consistently engrossing and very much worthwhile. The movie's influence on its sub-genre is also indisputable. An early sequence, in which Wah murders a rival dining with his cronies in a roadside restaurant, would be copied by numerous later pictures (particularly Wong Jing's RETURN TO A BETTER TOMORROW), and Andy Lau's fiery but principled anti-hero (which he would recycle in a number of lesser productions) eventually made him the genre's premiere idol.

Riding the wave of gangster thrillers spawned by the success of A BETTER TOMORROW, TEARS did solid business and that, coupled with the accolades the movie received from foreign critics, prompted producers Alan Tang Kwong-wing and Rover Tang Kwong-chow to essentially give Wong carte blanche for DAYS OF BEING WILD. Working with sync sound (still rare for HK movies at that point) and partnered for the first time with the idiosyncratic but undeniably brilliant cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Wong turned out the first of what might be termed his "signature" movies.

The film is set in 1960 and revolves around handsome cad York (Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing), who is either incapable of or unwilling to treat women with any degree of compassion or respect. After taking up with shy, withdrawn clerk So Lai-chun (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk), he soon moves on to scatterbrained dancing girl Mimi (Carina Lau Kar-ling), who is more willing to put up with the sort of games he plays. York's behaviour can, at least partially, be attributed to his foster mother (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE’s Rebecca Pan Di-hua). A former courtesan turned embittered alcoholic, she refuses to tell York who his real mother is, forcing him to stay with her by dangling this bit of crucial information just out of reach. Policeman Tide (Andy Lau Tak-wah) notices Lai-chun brooding outside York's apartment building and, over time, becomes her confidant. Tide's interest eventually turns into unrequited love, a situation that also befalls York's friend (Jacky Cheung Hok-yau), who desires Mimi but is soundly rejected by her. York is finally able to learn the whereabouts of his true mother and heads off to the Philippines in search of her. There, he finds both rejection and Tide, who is now a sailor.

If AS TEARS GO BY makes a few concessions to commerciality, then DAYS OF BEING WILD qualifies as the first "true" Wong Kar-wai movie. It's all here: the similarities in approach to Jean-Luc Goddard's early output, the underlying theme of unrequited love, measured pacing, skeletal narrative structure, languid takes of beautiful, brooding protagonists, alternating voiceover monologues, and gorgeous compositions complimenting William Cheung Suk-ping's impeccable art direction (finding great beauty in squalor this time). Also, like the films Wong is known for, this is best appreciated through multiple viewings, though the undercurrents here are not as rich or extensive as those found in his later work. The performances are all very good, especially Leslie Cheung as the mother-fixated lothario and Carina Lau as the hopelessly misguided Mimi, who refuses to accept what is painfully obvious to those around her. Tony Leung Chiu-wai appears in the final minutes here as part of a bit designed to set up a sequel. As the film was poorly received by audiences, it has yet to be produced but Wong's IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (reviewed in issue #128a) can be considered a companion piece. The director has stated that he regards MOOD as another chapter of DAYS and, in fact, Maggie Cheung's character in this later film, Su Li-zhen, shares the same name (Mega Star's subtitles for DAYS use the Cantonese equivalent, So Lai-chun) and could theoretically be that girl a few years later. Might Tony Leung's handsome, unnamed stranger also be the character he plays in MOOD?


ZOOM
Cover art courtesy Mega Star.

ZOOM
Andy Lau (left) and Jacky Cheung (right). Image courtesy Mega Star.

ZOOM
Maggie Cheung and Andy Lau. Image courtesy Mega Star.
ZOOM
Cover art courtesy Mega Star.
ZOOM
Leslie Cheung and Carina Lau. Image courtesy Mega Star.
ZOOM
Maggie Cheung. Image courtesy Mega Star.
DVD SPECS

As Tears Go By
Mega Star #MS/DVD/263/HK (Hong Kong label)

Dolby Digital 5.1

Cantonese Language Track (post-synched)

Optional Subtitles In English, Chinese (Traditional or Simplified), Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese

9 Chapters Illustrated In the Menu With Stills

Enhanced for 16:9 Displays

Letterboxed (1.80:1)

Coded for ALL Regions

NTSC Format

Macrovision Encoded

98 Minutes

Contains brutal violence and coarse language


DVD menu courtesy Mega Star.


Days of Being Wild
Mega Star #MS/DVD/264/HK (Hong Kong label)

Dolby Digital 5.1

Sync Sound Cantonese Language Track

Optional Subtitles In English, Chinese (Traditional or Simplified), Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese

9 Chapters Illustrated In the Menu With Stills

Enhanced for 16:9 Displays

Letterboxed (1.79:1)

Coded for ALL Regions

Macrovision Encoded

NTSC Format

94 Minutes

Contains moderate violence and adult themes


DVD menu courtesy Mega Star.


FILM BOARD RATINGS AND CONSUMER ADVICE
As Tears Go By Days of Being Wild
Australia: R
Great Britain: 18 [Passed With Cuts totalling 17 seconds]
Ontario: AA (Possibly Cut)
Singapore: PG [Passed With Cuts]
Australia: M (Occasional Violence)
British Columbia: 14 YRS (Some Violence, Occasional Suggestive Scenes)
Great Britain: 12
Hong Kong: II
Ontario: AA
Singapore: PG [Passed With Cuts]


PRESENTATION
AS TEARS GO BY and DAYS OF BEING WILD were the first HK movies to be issued on DVD in 16:9 by a local video label. That said, they still tend to look like run-of-the-mill HK transfers and should not be considered definitive. TEARS boasts deep blacks and largely attractive hues, though contrasts are variable. The 35mm print source has light wear but nothing overly distracting. It does, however, look its age at times, with intermittent grain. HK theatrical prints and early video releases have absolutely horrible English subtitles which would sometimes even disappear for minutes at a time. A British PAL tape, on the Made In Hong Kong label, offered a much improved translation but was compromised by BBFC censorship. Mega Star's subs fall somewhere in between: they cover all of the dialogue but are graceless, with typos and grammatical slip-ups galore.

From DAYS OF BEING WILD onwards, it becomes difficult to judge the accuracy of video transfers, as Wong and Doyle became less and less concerned with conventional imagery, introducing heavy grain, diffusion, and/or washed out colors into scenes for effect. Before their rights expired, Mei Ah issued DAYS on DVD, utilizing their old LD master. The results were acceptable, though marred by substandard compression and a lack of extras. Mega Star's release measures 1.79:1 and the image is soft, with light hues and weak contrasts. However, the other releases also looked this way, so the transfer would appear to be more or less accurate. The print has light wear throughout much of the running time and, alas, the English subtitle translation is of a considerably lower standard than most versions in circulation. Both films were originally issued in mono but have been given 5.1 remixes here (in contrast to the norm for HK DVDs, only Cantonese tracks are provided, with no Mandarin option). The sound usually remains up front, with new rear channel effects (sometimes sounding too crisp and immediate) added for atmosphere. As the audio was derived from the prints' optical tracks, pops and crackles can occasionally be heard but are not a major issue. The discs includes the trailers for each film.


AS TEARS GO BY
and DAYS OF BEING WILD are available at Poker Industries.


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