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 | scrubbing the floor | policeman | 

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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: I used to think there was a kind of bird that, once born, would keep flying until death. The fact is that the bird hasn't gone anywhere. It was dead from the beginning.

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Connections

Featured in The Story of Film: An Odyssey: New Boundaries: World Cinema in Africa, Asia & Latin America (2011)

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Soundtracks

Always In My Heart
Performed by Los Indios Tabajaras

User Reviews

Typical Wong Kar-Wai, but certainly not his best film

Many people here seem to be of the opinion that this film is not very typical of Wong's work. I would like to disagree. To me, this film is a very typical Wong film. That is, if you are expecting the absolutely perfect colours, pictures and frames of 'In the Mood for Love', you will be disappointed. This film, like many of his other films, has a more rough quality to it.

All you who have seen 'In the Mood' and liked it should really see this film, as I don't think you can understand 'In the Mood' without having seen this one. I was not particularly overwhelmed by 'In the Mood', but now that I have seen this film, I at least understand the later film better. So maybe also those who did not like 'In the Mood' should see this one, as it might change their perception of that film.

To me Wong Kar-Wai's best film is still Chungking Express. And this film, although kind of in line with that film, does not reach up to that standard. I am glad I saw this film, as it explains other parts of Wong's work to me, but were it not for the sake of understanding that bigger picture, I don't think I would recommend it.