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As Tears Go By poster

Movies that feel likeAs Tears Go By (1988)

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

If you loved As Tears Go By, the closest films we have are Days of Being Wild (1990), Happy Together (1997) and Read My Lips (2001). All three share As Tears Go By's contemplative and romantic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Port of Shadows (1938).

πŸ… 85% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Wong Kar-Waicontemplativegrittyromantictender
10 of 12 streaming nowNetflix Β· HBO Max Β· Criterion Channel

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If As Tears Go By hit the spot, these will too

Days of Being Wild poster
Days of Being Wild
1990 Β· dir. Wong Kar-Wai
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7.4crime Β· drama Β· romanceMax

Both are Wong Kar-Wai's work, and they rhyme

Yuddy, a Hong Kong playboy known for breaking girls' hearts, tries to find solace and truth after discovering the woman who raised him isn't his mother.

Happy Together poster
Happy Together
1997 Β· dir. Wong Kar-Wai
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.6drama Β· romanceMax

Wong Kar-Wai working the same nerve twice

The difference: Takes it somewhere less gritty than As Tears Go By does

A couple travels from Hong Kong to Argentina to revive their relationship but experience turbulence when both men's lives drift in separate directions.

Read My Lips poster
Read My Lips
2001 Β· dir. Jacques Audiard
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.3crime Β· drama Β· romance

The same mix in both: stillness, then grit

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than As Tears Go By does

She is almost deaf and she lip-reads. He is an ex-convict. She wants to help him. He thinks no one can help except himself.

Better Days poster
Better Days
2019 Β· dir. Derek Tsang Kwok-Cheung
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.6drama Β· crime Β· romanceRent or buy

Both land romance and tenderness at once

The difference: 31 years apart, and the 2010s show

A bullied teenage girl forms an unlikely friendship with a mysterious young man who protects her from her assailants, while she copes with the pressures of her final examinations.

Pierrot le Fou poster
Pierrot le Fou
1965 Β· dir. Jean-Luc Godard
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4drama Β· romance Β· crimeMax

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.

Badlands poster
Badlands
1973 Β· dir. Terrence Malick
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.7drama Β· romance Β· crime

Gritty crime, and it commits to that

An impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town and her older greaser boyfriend embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota badlands.

Port of Shadows poster
Port of Shadows
1938 Β· dir. Marcel CarnΓ©
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.7romance Β· drama Β· crime

Both lean on romance more than on romance

Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean, an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, as acts of both revenge and kindness render him front-page news.

3-Iron poster
3-Iron
2004 Β· dir. Kim Ki-duk
πŸ… 87%β˜… 7.9drama Β· romance Β· crime

Tender drama in both cases

A drifter lives in people's houses while they are away and repays them by doing chores for them. His life changes when he meets a beautiful woman who wants to escape her unhappy marriage.

The Woman Next Door poster
The Woman Next Door
1981 Β· dir. FranΓ§ois Truffaut
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.2drama Β· romance

Romance with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Two ex-lovers wind up living next door to each other with their respective spouses. Forbidden passions ensue.

A Brighter Summer Day poster
A Brighter Summer Day
1991 Β· dir. Edward Yang
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8.2crime Β· drama Β· romance

Crime built on grit, twice over

A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.

Dil Chahta Hai poster
Dil Chahta Hai
2001 Β· dir. Farhan Akhtar
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8.1drama Β· romanceNetflix

Drama built on romance, twice over

Three inseparable childhood friends are just out of college. Nothing comes between them - until they each fall in love, and their wildly different approaches to relationships creates tension.

Veer-Zaara poster
Veer-Zaara
2004 Β· dir. Yash Chopra
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.8drama Β· romanceNetflix

Romance built on tenderness, twice over

Squadron Leader Veer Pratap Singh, a pilot in the Indian Air Force, rescues the stranded Zaara, a woman from Pakistan, following a bus accident, and their lives are forever bound.

In the mood for more contemplative?

all contemplative movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share As Tears Go By’s defining feeling.