Two films by Wong Kar-Wai

Originally published in FILMWAVES in 2007.

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AS TEARS GO BY

As Tears Go By marked Wong Kar-Wai’s move into directing films after several years of writing screenplays that combined romance and action. It opens with low-level triad ‘big brother‘ Wah’s’ cousin, Ah Ngor, coming to stay with him in Kowloon; the plot alternates between Wah’s slow-burning, intense affair with her and his highly charged relationship with his ‘little brother’, derisorily nicknamed ‘Fly’, whose recklessness and inferiority complex spark a brutal cycle of violence.

As Tears Go By draws on a rich tradition of Cantonese action films, but despite the touching romantic elements that intersperse the plot (but never seem fully integrated), Wong’s debut will not convert many viewers to the genre. Whilst the violence is intelligently shot and well choreographed, its relentless over-employment means that the film’s most dramatic scenes don’t carry as much weight as they should.

The romance between Ah-Ngor and Wah suffers as a result, and his dilemmas regarding his brother’s behaviour are overly familiar as a narrative device: not enough of their backstory is provided, so their apparently complex relationship fails to engage the viewer as it should. It is never quite explained what activities Wah’s gang carries out, why his role within it is important, or why he is so desperate to remain involved in it.

As Tears Go By has its strengths: the pitch of intensity it reaches at its peak will captivate genre aficionados, and the central story has many twists without seemingly over-plotted. However, its script seems slightly underdeveloped, so As Tears Go By serves best as an intriguing indicator of how Wong would pursue a career that included such diverse works as Happy Together, In the Mood for Love and 2046.

DAYS OF BEING WILD

Days of Being Wild was Wong Kar-Wai’s second film, completed three years after his first. Yuddy (played by Leslie Cheung) learns from the drunken ex-prostitute who raised him that she is not his real mother, and his attempt to find his real mother interweaves with his difficulties choosing between two women – one a glamorous showgirl, the other working at a sports arena – who compete for his affections.

Days of Being Wild retains some of the violence that characterised As Tears Go By, but its eruption is far better paced – Leslie Cheung keeps Yuddy’s fury latent, hinting at an eruption occasionally (notably when one of his women asks about a break-up), which makes the eventual explosion after his cruel rejection by his biological mother all the more powerful.

Wong’s experience in screenwriting pays off more here, with some very touching dialogue (such as Yuddy’s insistence that the sports centre girl will dream about him, and his exchange the next day) and the establishment of several textual and visual motifs that hold his drama together. Yuddy’s voice-over monologue about a bird unable to fly, for example, is well employed throughout, often accompanied by simple, beautiful songs of a forest.

Wong also sets up an intriguing obsession with time: clocks can be heard ticking throughout several key scenes, and the opening dialogue has Yuddy telling the girl that they are “one-minute friends”. This theme is perhaps slightly underdeveloped: we get no sense of any character fighting the demands or ravages of time, or any overwhelming concerns about mortality.

Days of Being Wild is far better paced than As Tears Go By, though, and marks Wong’s transition from promising young filmmaker to internationally acclaimed auteur. For fans of his mature works, it is recommended.