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Days of Being Wild
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List Price: $29.95
Our Price: $26.99
Your Save: $ 2.96 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Kino Video
Starring: Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Rebecca Pan
Directed By: Kar Wai Wong
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0738329038021
Format: Closed-captioned
Label: Kino Video
Manufacturer: Kino Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Kino Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2004-10-19
Running Time: 89
Studio: Kino Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1991
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Poetic and Beautiful
Comment: An unconventional romantic drama about time and love. "Days of Being Wild" features beautiful cinematography and hauntingly memorable lines. This is a must see for fans of In the Mood for Love - Criterion Collection and 2046. Another Wong Kar-Wai masterpiece that has influenced much world cinema including the American indpendent Time and Tide
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Days of being languorous, you mean
Comment: There's only a couple wild scenes in this film. Most of the time, Leslie Cheung slouches around, his expression distant. That pretty well sums up the tone of the movie.
Wong Kar Wai's films are not inspiring. They are generally glimpses into sad or pathetic lives without hope. Yet, I have generally found them fascinating. Most of the dialog is bold and forthright, which makes for vivid characters. And I like the continual sense of "what's going on here"? His stories never go where I expect them to go. At least, this storyline, unlike the scrambled one of 2046, is strongly linear.
I also enjoy Wong Kar Wai's direction and, from this film on, the rich cinematography provided by frequent cinematographer, Aussi-born Christopher Doyle. This one is too shadowy, but they fixed that in later films.
As I watched it, I kept recognizing people and scenes and themes. That's because, even more than IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, this film was recycled a dozen years later into Wong Kar Wai's film 2046. Leslie Cheung's role as the unrepentent ladies man has to be the model for Tony Leung's role in 2046. Of course, Carina Lau's role is taken directly into 2046. Even the music (including my favorite: Xavier Cugat's violin-spiced "Perfida") reappears.
On it's own, this is worth at least one viewing for the visual style, the characterizations and the unexpected twists and turns. It's also interesting for the respite given actors often found in chop-socky Hong Kong films, giving them a chance to really act. And, of course, there is that other layer of interest for a viewer familiar with 2046.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Loving someone that likes to tell the story of "a kind of bird without legs that can only fly and fly..."
Comment: "Days of Being Wild", directed by Wong Kar Wai, is a well-made film about failed relationships, and the man that causes them to fail. It is a film about love, and about wanting what we cannot have. It is full of angst, but also of some very poetic moments, that make you realize the reason why you must pay attention whenever Wong Kar Wai's name is mentioned.
Yuddy (Leslie Cheung) is the "Don Juan" that makes women fall in love with him, and then forgets them. First he meets Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung), a shy woman that looks at him in a different way when he shows his charming side, telling her "At one minute before 3pm on April the 16th, 1960, you're together with me. Because of you, I'll remember that one minute. From now on, we're friends for one minute. This is a fact, you can't deny. It's done". The second woman he plays with is a showgirl named Mimi (Carina Lau), someone who knows the rules of the game but that is also likely to be hurt by Yuddy. But then, that is nothing less that the direct consequence of loving someone that likes to tell the story of "a kind of bird without legs that can only fly and fly, and sleep in the wind when it is tired. The bird only lands once in its life... that's when it dies"...
Of course, there is more to "Days of being wild" than the tale of Yuddy and the two women that love him. This film is also the story of Yuddy's search for his real mother, and of the love of two men for Su Lizhen and Mimi. Why do we want the things and people that we cannot have? This movie doesn't give an answer, but shows us how that can happen. It is not nice, but it is real, and somehow heartbreaking.
All in all, I can say that I recommend "Days of being wild". It is not my favorite Wong Kar Wai film, but it is worthwhile seeing, and that is the reason why I give it 3.5 stars.
Belen Alcat
Customer Rating:
Summary: yes, we have a review here, we have a review today!
Comment: the movie is superb.
my best friend really loves it.
it is her favourite movie.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hot
Comment: 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
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