Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

As Tears Go By Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 20, 2021

Wong Kar Wai's "As Tears Go By" (1988) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include remastered vintage trailer for the film and alternate endings. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

“Big Brother” Wah (Andy Lau) is a tough goon who collects overdue debts for the local triad bosses. Fly (Jacky Cheung), his younger brother, tries hard to imitate his macho style, but routinely fails. In order to impress those around him, he often takes on silly gigs other goons wouldn’t touch.

Ngor (Maggie Cheung), Wah’s cousin, arrives in the city to see a doctor. Before she rings his bell, Wah is contacted by his aunt and told that Ngor will stay with him until her treatment is complete, perhaps a little longer, and then return home. But when she moves in with Wah the two immediately fall for each other and the aunt's plan is put on hold. Soon after, Wah decides to leave the triads behind and follow Ngor to the countryside. But his plan is also put on hold when Fly challenges a local gangster who vows to teach him a painful lesson and he realizes that his brother needs his help to stay alive.

Even though the melancholic overtones that would become a key element in Wong Kar Wai’s later films are easy to detect in his directorial debut, As Tears Go By, they are essentially overshadowed by the emphasis on crime. Because of this the thought processes of the main protagonists are far easier to deconstruct as well. (In the director's later films there is always a certain degree of vagueness that makes it quite difficult to tell precisely how their characters think and feel).

The first of the two stories in As Tears Go By follows the deeds of two poor but ambitious brothers gravitating around a large triad organization. The older brother is more experienced and respected, while the younger one is naïve, stubborn, and rebellious. As the story progresses both face difficult dilemmas and make decisions that ultimately push them in a different directions -- and then bring them back in a very dramatic fashion.

The second story is the one that offers a glimpse of Wong Kar Wai's future very delicate style. It has the feel of a conventional romantic tale but carries that distinct sense of nostalgia that would become so crucial for his work. Somewhat predictably, even though the romance between the older brother and his beautiful cousin is short-lived, it actually becomes an important aspect of the film's identity.

The camera movement, arguably the most easily recognizable feature of Wong Kar Wai’s style, isn’t crucial to the narrative, but it still separates this film from other similarly-themed films that emerged during the same period. There are two sequences the clearly convey the director's eagerness to be creative with his camera. The first has the short but very beautiful encounter between Maggie Cheung and Andy Lau at the pier. As they kiss, the camera slows tremendously and the image temporarily becomes incredibly soft. (Chungking Express and especially Happy Together would master the effect to perfection). The second sequence, somewhat ironically, takes place at the very end. It is right before Andy Lau’s character makes the crucial decision that ends the film. A long close-up focuses on his eyes, we don’t hear him speak, or those around him, and yet we learn everything we should about his decision. It is a superb moment that demonstrates what the films of Wong Kar Wai do best, which is relate emotions to the viewer through gorgeous, often indescribably elegant visuals.

As Tears Go By Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, As Tears Go By arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The release is sourced from a recent 4K master that was supervised by director Wong Kar Wai. It is included in the World of Wong Kar Wai seven-disc box set.

I have only one other release of this film in my collection, which was produced by Mega Star in 2009. (We have a review of it here). The master that was used to produce the Hong Kong release, however, is even older. I viewed the new release yesterday and did plenty of direct comparisons with the old release. Here are my impressions:

Delineation and depth are better during daylight and nighttime footage. However, I think that the more substantial improvements are during the nighttime footage because now it is a lot easier to see and understand why and how certain stylistic choices were made. For example, a lot of the softer footage from the previous release still looks soft, but the density levels are vastly superior and delineation looks much more convincing. The heavy stylization, an example of which you can see in screencapture #4, has stronger organic qualities as well. The color scheme is convincing. I was unsure what to expect, but on this particular master the balance looks good. There are some minor shifts from blue to green, but blues are not eliminated. A lot of rebalancing work has been done, so certain sequences where blues are very prominent now look much better. (A prime example is the gang punishment around the 01.11.10 mark). The primaries are strong and the supporting nuances look healthy. The fluorescent lighting looks much better as well. Image stability is dramatically improved. On the old release you could occasionally spot a few loose frames here and there, but here all visuals are rock-solid. Is there anything that could have been done better? I think there are a couple of darker areas where the dynamic range of the visuals could have been handled a little better. The grading job flattens some shadow nuances, which shouldn't be happening but often does on 4K masters that are finalized overseas. However, it could very well be that in native 4K this minor issue is completely eliminated. There is a lot of very particular stylization in this film, so in some areas the flattening could be intentional. I think that at least a few of the highlights are pushed up a bit as well, but many such effects are present even on the old release. One more thing. During the brawl at the end the images are intentionally distorted -- the grain is flattened and there is actually gradual crushing. I specifically took screencaptures #32, 33, and 34 to demonstrate it. The same effects are present on the old release as well, only there the weaker master hides the majority of them. In native 4K, where the higher resolution significantly tightens up the visuals, these will be unrecognizable. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

As Tears Go By Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The old release of As Tears Go By did not have an original Cantonese Mono track, so it was good to finally see the film with a proper audio track. All I can say now is that in terms of balance and stability the Mono track is as good as it can possibly be. Obviously, when the current master was prepared, the audio was fully and very carefully remixed as well.

As Tears Go By Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a newly remastered vintage trailer for As Tears Go By. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles. (4 min, 1080p).

• Alternate Endings - presented here are two alternate endings taken from previous home video releases of As Tears Go By.
  
  1. "Happy" ending (3 min, 1080p).
  2. Extended ending (3 min, 1080p).

• Book - a perfect-bound, French-fold book featuring lavish photography, an essay by critic John Powers, a director's note, and six collectible art prints, as well as technical credits.

As Tears Go By Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I know that there are a lot of nervous people that have read and seen promotional materials highlighting the changes that were made while some of Wong Kar Wai's films were restored in 4K. While I have a few minor reservations, I think that Wong Kar Wai's directorial debut, As Tears Go By, looks very good now. I have not seen the other films in Criterion's upcoming World of Wong Kar Wai box set, but I will be going through them as quickly as I can. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.