The most amazing thing about As Tears Go By is that for about an hour, it tricks you into thinking it's a gangster movie. It is not. It is a love story (both romantic and familial), and for someone who generally shies away from the romance genre, it hit me like a sucker punch. What Wong Kar-Wai does in detailing a gruff, violent Wah and then revealing that it was all just to accentuate the romantic aspect of him is not misdirection, though at first glance it could look like it. No, it made me realize that certain 'gangster' character types are essentially romantic underneath it all. There is a passion that ties violence with love. Instead of being on opposite ends of a spectrum of love and hate, Wah's violence and love are two branches of the same tree. WKW points out that both are strong emotions, and that they are not their own opposites; they are just different colors of the same energy, with apathy their opposite instead of absence. WKW here uses both to complement each other, instead of contrast.

The "Take My Breath Away" sequence is one of the most unexpected, yet appropriate scenes I've experienced in a long time. On paper, it's like experiencing two halves of very different movies being spliced together - jarring and disorienting until it quickly clicks into place. For the first hour, I was entertained, but a little confused and worried - worried because I know WKW's reputation for romance and my usual apprehension of it, and confused because there was virtually none up to this point. Shame on me for doubting such an esteemed director, even in his debut picture. Once the romantic aspect kicked in, it felt like an ingenious plot twist giving every one of Wah's actions prior to it a new meaning and depth. Was it melodramatic? Sure - but I felt an intense intent below the surface; a whisper of the emotional voice promised to come from WKW, and even the hint of something real is better than disguised emptiness.

While WKW is obviously finding his way here, and the gangster portions, though stylish, are nothing spectacular (except for those last 5 minutes...my god, that was great). Taking every scene individually, there are more mediocre sequences than great ones, but by instilling an almost surreal humanism by way of romance, the whole package is infinitely more appealing than its pieces. I haven't even gone into WKW's much-ballyhooed use of light, which is on full display here - using natural tones for the romantic scenes and neon ones for those in gangland - or how adorable Maggie Cheung is. I'll have plenty of time to do so, however, because even if my heart can't take on the rest of WKW's films, based on the promise in As Tears Go By, I'm willing to risk it.