Its very weird watching As Tears Go By after seeing Wong Kar Wai's later works. His directorial style is very much in its infancy here: saturated colours, slow motion fight and chase scenes, shooting in the dark -- contrasted against more orthodox forms of camerawork.

The story itself is much more traditional. Being in the mind of the characters' takes a backseat to a formulaic plot about street gangsters. The ending is clear before we've even hit the halfway mark. But its set apart from the others because of its atmospheric love story.

What shines most here is the romantic atmosphere that Wong creates. And I don't mean between Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung (who are playing first cousins, ick). Its the passionate devotion between Andy Lau's Wah and Jacky Cheung's Fly that's the heart and soul of this film. Both men want the other to live a good life. To be safe, happy, and thrive. Their push and pull is painful to watch. They're like magnets and it makes sense that one cannot truly live without the other.

I absolutely adore Maggie Cheung - she's talented, gorgeous, and commands the screen. But she has very little to work with and is probably the thinnest of the characters in this film. Ngor suffers from being nothing but a love interest. Forgotten by the plot and her man, unless its convenient, and ultimately one of the most forgettable of Wong's female characters. If I had watched this film first, instead of In The Mood for Love, I might never have continued with Wong's filmography as I would have thought he's just terrible at writing women.

I'm glad I watched this -- even if it was just to see where Wong started and how he evolved for the better.

*copy and pasted from my Letterboxd review*