As Tears Go By marks the directorial debut of Wong Kar-wai, and was inspired by Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973), though it remains an atypical entry within Wong’s filmography. At a time when gangster films dominated the Hong Kong box office, particularly following the immense success of John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow (1986), Wong entered the genre with a style distinctly his own. Blending gangster crime drama with a poignant love story, the film offers the first glimpse of the emotional and visual elements that would come to define Wong Kar-wai’s cinema.

Mid-level gangster Wah falls in love with his beautiful cousin Ngor, but must also continue to protect his volatile partner-in-crime and friend, Fly.

Supported by the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office London.