Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Graham Greene A film about time and dislocation; establishing themes that would be further explored in the director's later works, Chungking Express, Happy Together, and, more importantly, In The Mood For Love, and 2046. Wong had already stated that Days Of Being Wild should be seen as the first part in a trilogy of films, each dealing with the issues of love, obsession, time and memory, set against a back-drop of 1960's Hong Kong. Although I'm not going to delve into any great detail as to how these three films correlate to one another, it should be noted that the character of Su-Li Zhen, one of the first to be introduced in this film, is most likely the same Su-Li Zhen so pivotal to the relationships of In The Mood For Love and 2046. Also, there's the brief appearance by Tony Leung in the final scene here, with his character - hinted to be a gambling, feckless womaniser, not too dissimilar to Days' central character, Yuddy - seeming to be the blue-print for the character of Mr. Chow in those two aforementioned masterworks.As a stand-alone piece, Days can be appreciated for it's painterly style and lingering use of atmosphere. It certainly works better as a piece of entertainment if we tie it in with Wong's last two films, but there's nothing lost if you've yet to see them. At its heart, Days is a youth film, a melodrama about listless youth congregating around Yuddy, a Cantonese James Dean and legend in his own time. As a character, Yuddy can occasionally seem rather loathsome... he's an arrogant, feckless womaniser, who casts aside his conquests without compassion or humility. He also refuses to work... instead, he leaches off his adoptive mother, a former courtesan who longs for a new life with an unseen man in the U.S., but, at the same time, she refuses to live without the love of her son. It's this kind of emotional paradox that really defines Wong's work on this film, with many of the characters having contradictory elements that ultimately make them all the more human. It is also important to note the relationships between Yuddy and his - in a sense - two mothers (the one we see and the one we don't), as they are really the very backbone to the prevailing theme of the film.As he states himself towards the beginning of the film, Yuddy is a man who can't concern himself with the affections of one woman... however, this is the real point of interest in Wong's film, in the sense that what Yuddy really needs is the love of ONE woman, in this case, his birth mother. The torturous relationship between Yuddy and his adopted mother is straight out of a Hollywood melodrama, as the pair argue over money, aspirations, and their equally rootless personal lives... though, ultimately, the argument always comes back to Yuddy's quest for the mother that long-ago gave him away. The sensitive layers of this character, who at first appears to be completely devoid of human emotions, though, ultimately, proves himself to be a sensitive and isolated young soul, is exceptionally observed by Wong and perfectly performed by the late Leslie Cheung, in what is, perhaps, his best film role.Yuddy's influence on the other characters in the film is also important to note, as it establishes another thread to Wong's story... that being obsession, influence, emulation and mirroring. The first female character we are introduced to is the aforementioned Su-Li Zhen, a shy young woman who works in the ticket booth at the local sports stadium. The opening scenes of the film, which draw heavily on the repetitious use of imagery - with Wong and his cinematographer Christopher Doyle establishing a number of iconic images surrounding the characters (particularly time, which is a prevalent factor throughout) - show us Yuddy's various attempts to seduce the seemingly disinterested Su-Li. Eventually, through cool charm and empty sentiment, he manages to woo the young woman, holding her close to him in one of the film's key-scenes and declaring themselves "one-minute friends", as he counts down 60 seconds on his watch and says that wherever he goes, he'll always remember her for this shared-moment.The monologue here is another important theme, again, going back to the idea of time and wasted opportunities. Another thread to the story involves a lonely policeman who walks the late-night streets outside Yuddy's high-priced apartment. One night, after Su-Li realises that she has been replaced, by the brash showgirl Mimi (a.k.a. Lulu, another reoccurring character from 2046), the policeman comes to her aid... offering her cab fair home on the first night, then walking with her through the empty and nocturnal streets for a second. Eventually, the policeman will come to love Su-Li as obsessively as she loves the unconcerned Yuddy, a three-way relationship that will feature significantly in the film's final act...Throughout the film, Wong is playing with the conventions of the melodrama, in the way filmmakers like Fassbinder did in the 1970's, or Douglas Sirk before him, in the idea of taking certain characters, archetypes and iconography from Hollywood, but re-adapting them into a framework that is much more personal. The creation (or recreation) of 1960's Hong Kong is far removed from most period films, with Wong and Doyle creating an almost existential world of grasping nocturnal shadows and autumnal colours that seem to be modelled on the works of Edward Hopper. It's not quite as technically draw-dropping as his more recent films, in particular, the glorious visual fantasia of 2046, but it is, regardless, an important piece of work in the career of this master filmmaker.

tedg Sublime suspension.A very satisfying affair: here's the first project where Kar-Wai Wong found his groove with the Spanish notion of metastory, the story about how one hesitates in resolving what they see in life. And how that is a matter of touch. And how touch is word — and how one can touch and speak with the eye.The first project with Doyle. And with Maggie. In a way, the first version of "Mood/2046." I think no one understands cinematically suspended longing like this man. When you enter this, you enter a space where everything is connected, every connection is passionately loaded and seen. But there is no logic, no comprehension, no future. Ever.Its anti-love but fulfilling nonetheless. Its empty in a rich way. Its about created selves in the French New Wave sense, but those selves then being honestly inhabited.If you love, really love, it has to rest on the earth in some way. There seem to be only a few ways to rest, the usual one being a matter of anchors and roots. This is different, a matter of frictionless liquidity — a local zone of antigravity where the love seems fixed by never really touches the planet. There are several metaphors in the story along these lines.We may not have the courage to love in this way even if we are among the few who chance love at all. But it is a rather sublime visit, this.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

thebeautifulones So far, I've watched 4 Wong Kar Wai films, and they seem to suggest that if one constantly uses one's experience as an excuse to go down a path of self-destruction, that one person has no one to blame...but him/herself.The film starts with Yuddy (played by the late Leslie Cheung), the child of an aristocratic Filipino woman, who gives him to a wealthy alcoholic courtesan (played by Rebecca Pan), doing what he does best-making a woman fall for him, and dumping her when he finds he has no more feelings for her, or when she seeks commitment and security from him.His first target is the shy Su Lizhen, played by the eternally youthful Maggie Cheung, whom he tells her that she would see him in her dreams. My thoughts on that statement, what a bold thing to say! A classic example of Yuddy's arrogance! In the next meeting she tells him that she did not dream of him, he tells her that is because she did not sleep. Upon falling asleep, perhaps she did dream of him..and when he finds her again, her ears are flushed. He tells her to look at his watch which says that it's one minute before 3:00PM on April 16, 1960.Poor Lizhen! She would always remember that one minute, as it slowly increased to 2 minutes, an hour, half a day, and next, she's at his apartment. When she asked for some form of commitment, Yuddy promptly dumps her.Yuddy then moves on to Mimi, a cabaret girl (played by the ever voluptuous and passionate Carina Lau), and the love they share is passionate and aggressive. His best friend, Zeb, a quiet, yet loyal friend, is smitten by Mimi but she warns him against falling for her. Mimi is a passionate and possessive lover, but even she could not satisfy the ever drifting Yuddy, and is left to suffer the consequences of the break up.Meanwhile Yuddy blames his adoptive mother for his situation, and for not telling him who his real mother is. His cruelty does not surprise her, as she had long noticed that he had viewed her as a foe, and is unwilling to see her find her own happiness. In a bid to satisfy Yuddy, she tells him who his real mother is.Lizhen on the other hand, while going through the consequences of her break up befriends Tide (played by Any Lau), the gentle policeman. he tries to be a friend to her, and tells her that if she truly needed Yuddy, to go and tell him to his face. Tide unwittingly falls for Lizhen, and would wait at the phone booth in the district he does his rounds in for her call, but never got one. When his mother died, he became a sailor.The movie reveals itself like a poem, with each character trying to find his/her own identity, but perhaps never achieving it. Leslie Cheung the arrogant and self destructive drifter, Yuddy as though Yuddy is his second nature. Suave, handsome, but commitment-phobic, and never treating women with any respect. Jacky Cheung did well in his role as the shy Zeb who idolized Yuddy, no over acting this time unlike what he did in Bullet in the Head. Carina Lau played Mimi with ease, you could feel her passion, her possessiveness and her emotions, as though she was wearing all these qualities on her sleeve. Maggie Cheung and Andy Lau did well as the characters who were attracted to each other but the romance never materialized. When Lizhen finally had the courage to call Tide, it was too late as he had already left to become a sailor.As for Yuddy, perhaps he learnt that a bird which never lands can never exist, it is dead because it had chosen the path towards self-destruction. Yuddy had no one to blame but himself for his situation.The last scene with Tony Leung Chiu Wai dressing up was really cool, it made me wonder if that character developed to Chow Wo-Man. I wished WKW had released Part 2 of the film, it'd be nice to see how Wong explains TLCW's character.

mllora3 Contrary to other reviewer's notions of the film, "Days of Being Wild" does have a plot. The movie is a tale of existential angst. Stephen Teo places the movie in the area of quasi gangster cum romance. In short "Days of Being Wild" is, in the tradition of "Rebel without a Cause" an 'ah fei' movie - a story of lost youth. A large portion of the movie centers on dysfunctional relationships and each and every character's existentialist angst. A really short synopsis follows. The movie is set in 1960s. Leslie Cheung plays the lead character of Yuddy - a self destructive narcissist who constantly hurts women.In this movie, much like "Ashes in Time" the target of his self destruction is Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung). As previously stated, the film centers on the youthful, Yuddy, who learns from the drunken ex-consort who raised him that she not his real mother. Yuddy's real mother has left him in her care and moved to the Philippines. Much of the story is situated around Yuddy's need to go to the Philippines to see his mother. I would assume that the lack of connection to the mother is part of the motivation for Yuddy's 'early object loss' and hence his inability to connect with either Su Lizhen or Lulu (a character who will show up again in 2046). Yuddy's "auntie," hoping to hold onto him, steadfastly refuses to reveal the name of his real mother. The revelation, predictably, unsettles Yuddy to his very center, unleashing a cavalcade of irreconcilable emotions.Two women form the two pillars of Yuddy's existential angst and not surprisingly have the bad luck of falling in love with Yuddy. Similar to Tomas - the main character of Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" Yuddy cannot settle down and is stuck (at least in his head) in the liminal space of both/and. Yet, the reality is that he is trapped in the world of either/or and not both/end. Just as Tomas cannot have Sabina AND Teresa, Yuddy cannot have both Su Lizhen AND Mimi. Both are beset with choices.On the one hand, we have Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung) who works at a sports arena selling refreshments at a kiosk. On the other hand, juxtaposed against Su Lizhen's 'plainness' (if we can ever call Maggie Cheung 'plain') is the persona of the glitzy showgirl Lulu or Mimi. It is clearly 'early object loss' that leaves Yuddy cold. As Lizhen slowly intimates her deep hurt over what is happening to her and Yuddy to Tide (Andy Lau), Tide begins to fall for her. The same, it is argued, might be said for Yuddy's Sancho Panza - Zeb (Jacky Cheung). Zeb find himself falling in love with Lulu. Yuddy learns of his birth mother's whereabouts and heads out to the Philippines. In the Philippines, he meets up with Tide and they encounter thugs who - not impressed with the 'ah fei' Yuddy, well, do him in. The last minute appearance of Tony Leung seems like a setup for the next movie... too bad we have not had the pleasure... yet? The movie may be all about Leslie Cheung but we should not forget the performances of Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, and Rebecca Pan. Despite the characters circling around the Yuddy character - each brings a dimension of their own into the movie. The strength, it is often argued, of Wong Kar Wai's movies is his highly developed (or undeveloped, yet very deep) characters.Par for the course, just like all his other movies, "Days of Being Wild" is visually stunning. Working with Christopher Doyle, 1961 Hong Kong comes to life. As a Filipino abroad, I could not help but feel nostalgic when the movie shifted to the Philippines. I know that 1960s in the Philippines was one filled with cars and urban centers and not only the lush jungle scenes that fill the mise-en-scene. Who cares... it is only a movie and a good one at that. The movie draws from all angles for its greatness - the characters, the acting, the mise-en-scene, the cinematography, the whole ball of wax. The movie can be analyzed on many levels and I fail to do that here. However, on one level, like voyeurs we watch Yuddy's self destruction and enjoy the cathartic element of the 'ah fei.' Bravo Wong Kar Wai! One more movie please! Miguel Llora