As Tears Go By

Saw Wong Kar-Wai's first and most conventional movie, As Tears Go By, tonight. A straight take on Scorsese's Mean Streets and filled with genre cliches, it's the story of a tough Triad man Wah who has to look after his inept little brother and gangster-wannabe Fly, while falling in love with his ailing cousin Ngor.

Cheesy music (Cantopop version of Berlin's Take My Breath Away) punctuates classic gang battles and love scenes. It's a very 80s film, but worth it purely for seeing how quickly and brilliantly Kar-Wai progressed in his moviemaking.

But even this early on, Kar-Wai manages to subvert the usual images of non-stop, frenetic violence typical of modern Hong Kong movies, by introducing his now-familiar themes of the search for identity, urban alienation, and troubled romance.

And, as ever, Hong Kong is gorgeously filmed.

The next Kar-Wai movie we're seeing at the NFT is Happy Together, about two male Chinese lovers reaching the end of the literal and emotional road in Argentina.

Related link:
+ Hypatia Avenue's thoughts on Wong Kar-Wai. October 11 entry.

Other links today:
+ First space tourists will blast off to Bowie. How appropriate!
+ Tuna's red glare? It could be carbon monoxide. The mercury scare was bad enough, now this. What impact will this have on my sushi habit? Probably not a lot cause I have a sushi addiction, but eating it will certainly never again be a stress-free experience. Ignorance is bliss.