Days of Being Wild (1990)

A man tries to find out who his real mother is after the woman who raised him tells him the truth.

Director:

Kar-Wai Wong (as Kar Wai Wong)

Writers:

Jeffrey Lau, Kar-Wai Wong (as Kar Wai Wong)

Stars:

Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau

17 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Leslie Cheung	...	Yuddy
Maggie Cheung	...	Su Li-zhen
Andy Lau	...	Tide
Carina Lau	...	Leung Fung-ying
Rebecca Pan	...	Rebecca (as Tik-Wa Poon)
Jacky Cheung	...	Zeb
Tony Chiu-Wai Leung	...	Chow Mo-wan (as Tony Chiu Wai Leung)
Danilo Antunes	...	Rebecca's Lover
Mei-Mei Hung	...	The Amah
Ling-Hung Ling	...	Nurse
Tita Muñoz	...	Yuddy's Mother
Alicia Alonzo	...	Housekeeper
Elena Lim So	...	Hotel Manageress
Maritoni Fernandez	...	Hotel Maid
Angela Ponos	...	Prostitute

Storyline

Set in 1960, the film centres on the young, boyishly handsome Yuddy, who learns from the drunken ex-prostitute who raised him that she is not his real mother. Hoping to hold onto him, she refuses to divulge the name of his real birth mother. The revelation shakes Yuddy to his very core, unleashing a cascade of conflicting emotions. Two women have the bad luck to fall for Yuddy. One is a quiet lass named Su Lizhen who works at a sports arena, while the other is a glitzy showgirl named Mimi. Perhaps due to his unresolved Oedipal issues, he passively lets the two compete for him, unable or unwilling to make a choice. As Lizhen slowly confides her frustration to a cop named Tide, he falls for her. The same is true for Yuddy's friend Zeb, who falls for Mimi. Later, Yuddy learns of his birth mother's whereabouts and heads out to the Philippines.

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Plot Keywords:

philippines | 1960s | spanking | lothario | scrubbing the floor | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese Shanghainese Tagalog English Mandarin

Release Date:

15 December 1990 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Days of Being Wild

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,090, 21 November 2004, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$141,864, 10 April 2005

Company Credits

Production Co:

In-Gear Film

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the first part of Wong Kar Wai's trilogy, the 2nd is In the Mood for Love (2000) and the last one is 2046 (2004).

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Goofs

When Tide checks into the hotel, the hotel manageress hands him the key to Room 206. However, in the next scene, Tide uses the key to enter Room 204. This, however, may not be so much a 'goof' as another recurrence of the number '2046' seen so often in Wong Kar-Wai's films.

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Quotes

Yuddy: Hey, have you heard of a kind of bird...
Tide: [interrupting] The kind without legs, right? This kind of nonsense can only fool the girls!

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Connections

Followed by In the Mood for Love (2000)

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Soundtracks

Perfidia
Written by Alberto Domínguez
Performed by Xavier Cugat

User Reviews

three beautiful stories in one about quests for friendship - my favourite WKW

There is a two-minute action sequence, but that is NOT what this masterpiece is about. 'Days of being wild' has to be the best film of Wong Kar-Wai or at least MY favourite. There are three stories (in one) that feel like film-noir now and then, but are principally about the distance in several different relationships. Kar-Wai lets his characters struggle with urban loneliness and lets them search indefinitely, unable to settle down. They only have the chance to create 'One Minute Friendships' that might seem magic but don't offer satisfaction and have to be ended. The quest continues. Won Kar-Wai poses the question whether you have lived actually when you've searched all your life for friendship/love. Two or three voice-overs scarcely help the portrayal of the characters, but only when the story allows it. I prefer this film over Chungking Express anytime. One reason for that is the great use of music here, while his other films tend to drown in the excessive use of western music. The acting is also really brilliant in this eclectic work.

Subtle and masterly cinematography by Christopher Doyle (Chungking Express, Fallen Angels '95): less colorful than 'In the mood for love', but therefore more applicable for the fifties. Moreover, the dynamics are also much more subtle than everything Kar-Wai and Doyle have done up till now. In contrast: Happy Together and Fallen Angels were brilliantly photographed because there it was more appropriate to use dynamic cinematography (more temperament). It's only Kar-Wai's second film but still his most solid and memorable and maybe even more internationally appealing than 'In the mood for love', without making compromises or getting sentimental. I just can't think of anything that is not good in 'Days of being wild'.

10 points out of 10 :-)