User reviews

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.

This film was directed by the Chinese director, Wong Kar-Wai, who came to Western attention through his strange and quirky CHUNGKING EXPRESS. Because it was such an unusual and unique film, I decided to watch this other film. And, as in CHUNKING EXPRESS, DAYS OF BEING WILD was indeed a very unusual film--though with none of the kooky sensibilities of the other movie.

The film begins with a man trying to slowly ingratiate himself to a rather shy lady. Slowly but surely he is able to bring her out of her shell and after months of grooming her, he is able to bed her. To him, it's all a game and he has absolutely no regard for her or any other woman. But this nice lady is shattered and he could care less. Later, you see him pretty much doing the same thing in another self-centered relationship. While this is moderately interesting, what makes it even more so is his relationship with his foster mom. Their sick and dysfunctional interactions tell much about why he is who he is. The rest of the film concerns both of them as they separate and go their ways.

The DVD case compared this movie to the French film, LA RONDE. In most ways, this is very unfortunate, as both movies are excellent on their own and Wong Kar-Wai's film is not derivative. The only major similarities I saw is that both films involved sex and also showed how the two people at the beginning later had impact on others' behaviors as well. LA RONDE was about a large group of people and how sex (and an STD) unites them, while DAYS OF BEING WILD is about connections--and how some are unable to have deep or meaningful relationships. In this sense, it's a standout film. However, unfortunately, this also makes it a rather unpleasant film and is a bit difficult to watch--definitely NOT a date movie! It simply is NOT a fun film. But for someone who wants something with insights and is well directed and written, this is a film well worth seeing.

NOTE--While this film is about sexuality and the DVD case looks very steamy, there is no nudity in the film. This actually might be an excellent film for teens to see with their parents, as it opens up a great opportunity to talk about intimacy and sexuality--and how some cannot or will not combine the two.

Set in 1960, the film centers 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.

Almost entirely ignored on its original release, the film has gathered strong critical interest over time, and has a Metacritic score of 96%. Critics praise the film for its beauty and eroticism, though some do not discern a narrative arc that brings the pieces together.

The lack of a strong narrative sort of had me less than interested, or at least as much as I could have been. Maybe i was in the wrong mindset. I loved the color palette, and it is nice to gt more out of Hong Kong than martial arts and action films... but this just was not for me.

In Wong Kar-wai's 1991 film Days of Being Wild, Yuddy (Leslie Cheung), a charming drifter captures the attention of store attendant Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung) by asking her to look at his watch. When she sees that it says one minute before 3:00PM on April 16, 1960, he tells her that she will never forget the moment and will dream about him that night. The next time they meet, the moment becomes two, then one hour, then weeks and months but Yuddy is like the mythical bird with no legs that just flies and flies and never lands. Abandoned by his real mother and brought up by a wealthy alcoholic courtesan (Rebecca Pan), he does not know where he came from or where he is going. He treats women with little respect, discarding them when they no longer serve his purpose. When one lover asks him if he loves her, he tells her that during his life he will be friends with many, many women but won't know whom he truly loves until the end.

Days of Being Wild unfolds like a dream with color filters, unusual shadows, and the sights and sounds of Hong Kong's rainy nights and sweltering summers. Based on the director's memories from his childhood and admiration for the style of Argentinean novelist Manuel Puig (Heartbreak Tango), the film is a series of episodes involving six people who touch each other's lives. After his short-lived relationship with Su, Yuddy meets a cabaret dancer who calls herself Mimi (Carina Lau) but their relationship fares no better and she is left to suffer the consequences of their breakup. Meanwhile, Su meets Tide (Andy Lau), a gentle policeman whom she is able to confide until he suddenly leaves Hong Kong to become a sailor. Each character seeks a sense of identity and fulfillment. After Rebecca tells him of her plans to move to America with her boyfriend, she finally lets him know who and where his real mother is. After Yuddy goes to the Philippines to try to find his mother, the lives of the main protagonists come together in a powerful conclusion.

Days of Being Wild may sound like a soap opera but the film reaches a much higher artistic level. Supported by outstanding performances by Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, and Jacky Cheung as Yuddy's only friend Zeb, it is a tone poem about longing and one's search for identity. We care about the characters even though they don't seem to care about themselves. Like many of us, they pine for the things that might have been, the word that was never said, and the love that remains elusive. A commercial failure but an artistic triumph, Days of Being Wild is a moody, atmospheric film that with its background of popular music, in this case 1950's rumbas and cha-cha's, forecasts the director's later In the Mood For Love. As a beautifully realized example of alienated people desperately seeking their place in the world, however, it stands securely on its own.

Though it has been argued that 'A Fei Zheng Chuan' (aka 'Days of Being Wild') is the first set of the trilogy which is completed by 'Fa Yeung Nin Wa' (aka 'In the Mood For Love') and '2046', it 'looks' different from the other two films. Kar Wai uses less colour, more shadow, rain and heat and more rawness. The tone is much darker than in 'Fa Yeung Nin Wa' as the film is set in the 50s. The music is beautiful and effectively used. And, here too Kar Wai ends up making a powerful product. Though this film was a box office failure, it is an artistic victory.

'A Fei Zheng Chuan' tells the story of 6 individuals whose lives are interconnected by each character's search and struggle for an identity. It's about loneliness, unrequited love, lost love, the search for love, and how the search continues. Kar Wai clevely brings up the theme of sex (without showing any nudity). The writing is excellent and the characterization is strengthened by superb and unique performances. The late Leslie Cheung's Yuddy is not a very likable person but we do sympathize with this man and recognize him. Maggie Cheung as Su gives one of the most subtle and finest performances. Carina Lau is energetic and terrific as Mimi. Rebecca Pan gracefully downplays her part. Andy Lau's Tide and Jacky Cheung's Zeb too are relatable and the actors are nothing short of remarkable. Actually, I recognize all the characters in this film.

I loved the cinematography, especially the long shots. One of my favorite shot is the introduction of the scene that glides from the Phillipine streets to Yuddy and Tide in a lunch bar. This is one fine example of skillful camera-work. The shaky camera (which thankfully isn't overdone) and the close-ups that mostly take place during conversations and intimate moments between two characters work very well. Doyle's camera-work simply guides us through the lives of these characters.

Summing it up, 'A Fei Zheng Chuan' works on many levels. It is an excellent study of characters, it 'tells' a universal story in a poetic way and it is a fine cinematic experience.

A bird that never lands will one day suddenly seize to exist.

I don't recall having seen any of Wong Kar-wai's movies before now, so I suppose that his "A fei zing zyun" ("Days of Being Wild" in English) is an OK place to start. It focuses on a playboy in 1960 Hong Kong and his relationships while he tries to find out the identity of his birth mother. Much of the movie takes place in dark settings, making Hong Kong look like a seedy place, far different from the image that we usually get of it. This is one movie that really tests your attention span.

I guess that I can't fully assess this movie without having seen the rest of Wong's movies. Even so, it's a profound, thought-provoking look at the characters and their interactions with each other. Often when I watch these movies, I wonder if I've missed certain cultural nuances. Whether or not I have, I still recommend it, just as long as you remember that you really gotta pay attention here.

I guess the main reason that this is my favorite WKW movie is that it's one of the least abstract of his movies and I feel like the viewer becomes more emotionally involved with the characters because of that. The music, as always with WKW, is wonderful and the cinematography is fine, I especially like all the shots of the lush tropical forests. It isn't as beautifully photographed as many of his later films like chungking express and in the mood for love. And it doesn't feature much of the fancy techniques that WKW likes to employ in movies like fallen angels or happy together. Still I think this is my favorite of Wong Kar Wai's movies, not necessarily the best, but the one I enjoy the most. Highly Recommended.

There is an unpolished, raw, kind of grimy feeling to this film, one which maybe fits the sad, lonely little lives of these characters, few of whom are likeable. A young playboy (Leslie Cheung) who "hates work" treats a couple of women like disposable objects, and yet they can't seem to stop loving him. It's a type of story I'm not all that fond of, even if we gradually understand one of the things that seriously damaged him, and maybe made him into the self-centered asshole we see before us. His mother gave him up for adoption, and his stepmother only took him so she could get a regular paycheck. It was quite hard to empathize with him though, and I disliked the misogynistic overtones of the film. Even his nerdy friend gets in on it, slapping his second girlfriend (Carina Lau) around in the rain after she's been abandoned. My favorite moment was when a kind police officer tries to talk some sense into the first girlfriend (Maggie Cheung), and after they part, he narrates:

"I never really thought she'd call. But every time I passed by the phone booth, I'd stand there for a while. Maybe she's all right and she made it back to Macao. Or maybe she just needed someone to help her through that one night. Soon after that, my mother passed away, and I became a sailor."

The film desperately needed more humanizing touches like that, or some level of self-reflection or philosophy deeper than its bird metaphor. The painting of emptiness and loneliness that Wong Kar-wai gives us is undercut without it, though I did like some of the artistry in his camera work. Oh, and if you're as puzzled as I was about the character seen at the very end, it's a somewhat random/minor character who was meant to be the main character of the second part of the story, a film which was never made. Somehow the meaninglessness of that fits, though I'm not sure it's in a good way.

The only other film of Wong Kar-Wai's I have seen is Chungking Express, which asks a second viewing on account of not, like with a Godard film, being able to really soak up everything that he was putting forth with his characters. On the other hand, his second film I have seen, Days of Being Wild, kept me in tune from start to finish. His film is one of what I completely understand, and find emotionally fulfilling, as it deals with people and themes that are universal. At the core is the basic premise that in youth we don't know where we're going, we may feel like we're 'not all there', and being on our own scrambles us up. With his principals, Kar-Wai delivers a love story about what it means to be in love, or not, and how it affects the people around us.

The late Leslie Cheung is our main protagonist, who at the start of the film woos a worker in a stadium, played by Maggie Cheung, and they start up a relationship that seems to go nowhere. Leslie Cheung's Yuddy is the usual kind of angry young man of the late 50's, early 60's, with violent tendencies and a level of detached mood from his counterparts. But he also has a sense of longing, for his parents he's never known (his 'aunt' is rather selfish) and perhaps for something he never says outright. There is also a supporting story involving, and soon co-coinciding with Yuddy's, with a cop wanting to be a sailor (Andy Lau as Tide), who has a sense of quiet longing after becoming interested in one of Yuddy's frustrated girlfriends (Carina Lau as Leung Fung-Ying). By the time the last half hour kicks in, the main focus of the story comes in, at least for our two main heroes, and for the women in the story.

Cheung and Cheung give many of the more powerful scenes in the picture, with dramatic tension and the kind of fun youth posses. But also, Lau is rather remarkable in his supporting role even when we are basically following him around, himself in his own thoughts we only hear occasionally in voice-over (as with a couple of the other characters). More often than not, Kar-Wai wisely chooses to bring more mood to the story than actual plot contrivances or twists like in a common teen love story. While some passages are rather blunt in this respect (i.e. the quote about the bird with no legs, a fitting, stark image), they seem to work. That there is not much violence as could be expected from a title like this is also a pleasant surprise.

Adding to all of this, there is Christopher Doyle behind a camera that moves much like is was guided by a next-generation Raul Coutard. Some shots are impressive just by being elaborate (like when we glide from the street up the stairs to a lunch-hall where Yuddy is at in the Philippines). Other are more subtle, with the emphasis of darkness and light a voracious method to bring out the kinds of moods in these characters. Early on in the film, as in midway as well, some of the close-ups (like with two lovers in an intimate moment) are of the highest quality in artistry. Doyle, who ended up working on Kar-Wai on most of his films, displays foremost a wandering, intuitive approach that bring Days of Being Wild somewhere special, if not perfect.

Simply put, this film may be more directed to a specific kind of audience (art-house/Hong-Kong film buffs) than a mainstream romance/youth picture, but it doesn't compromise any of its integrity.

I suppose you might call the dashingly handsome "Yuddy" (Leslie Cheung) a bit of a Lothario. He has good looks and charm, and he sails through life thinking only of himself. His ideal existence comes to a bit of an abrupt halt, though, when his alcoholic courtesan of a mother "Rebecca" (Rebecca Pan) reveals to him in a drunken stupor that she isn't actually his mother at all. The rug has now been pulled from under his cocky feet and he now embarks on a rather self destructive journey to find out just who the real woman is. After an initial relationship with "Su Li-zhen" (Maggie Cheung) he finds himself hooked up with dancer "Mimi" (Carina Lau) but no nearer his ultimate goal. It's only when "Rebecca" decides to set off with her newest beau for a new life that she dispatches "Yuddy" to the Philippines where his answer lies. Meantime, "Su Li-zhen" has again found herself alone after her boyfriend decides to leave his police job and become a sailor. Is it all possible that the two might reconcile? Now, there is definitely something of the episodic - even soap opera - about this film. An unlikable and frankly selfish character seeking his own truth for his own reasons, but to be fair to the director and the writers, they manage to elevate it from the more tabloid and gradually develop the characters into creatures with whom we can, to an extent, empathise. There are façades all over the place, truth and honesty and trust are near, but in shadows - and the use of the dark, rainy, Hong Kong scenarios provides ample locations for all of those to hide - and from which to be discovered. Not my favourite of Wong Kar-wai's films - it is just a little predicable - but still, he packs lots into ninety minutes and the cast deliver well - especially Maggie Cheung - and I did enjoy it.

It's difficult to find words to describe feelings that appear after watching any WKW's film. Maybe they just don't exist. WKW make movies like others breath and see dreams. He makes me believe that cinema is not technology. He's the greatest director on this planet. No marks, no rewie. Everything will sound too banal. It's like to describe a melody, almost senseless. I like cinema, the entertaining spirit of cinema, i like Indiana Jones or Armaggedon, but WKW films give you something very unique and important.

Just one more remark: it seems to me, sometimes the spirit of Nabokov's prose lives in WKW heroes' rooms.

Days of Being Wild feels like a debut film, unpolished but still contains every element of Wong Kar-Wai movie. It is once again a mood film about different relationships that end up being unsuccessful. I think this one is kinda messy and the main characters are all unlikeable. I had a hard time following at first so the second half worked better for me. At least we got Maggie and Tony in a film together!

It made me feel like becoming a stalker, following the characters around; or it's like secretly opening other people's mail and reading their letters. Although nothing happened, somehow I was thrilled.

"While you live, nothing happens. The scenery changes, people come in and go out, that's all. There are no beginnings. Days add on to days without rhyme or reason, an interminable and monotonous addition...

But when you tell about a life, everything changes; ... events take place in one direction, and we tell about them in the opposite direction.... The story is going on backwards: moments have stopped piling themselves happy-go-luckily one on top of the other, they are caught up by the end of the story which draws them on and each one of them in turn the previous moment..." -- Jean-Paul Satre "Nausea"

If a normal film tells a story, this film makes you feel like living through it. Following the grand "French New Wave" tradition, it is as good as it gets.

Sophomore feature of Hong Kong taste-maker Wong Kar-wai, DAYS OF BEING WILD is part of the furniture on any list that elects best Chinese films, but in retrospect, it was somewhat of a damp squib upon its release in terms of its box-office pull, especially when taking account of its stellar cast (6 mega-stars in toto), fortunately, its reappraisal has never lost its momentum ever since.

Bestowed with searing good looks, Leslie Cheung indubitably holds court as Yuddy, the titular "ah fei", which means "hooligan", a skirt-chaser who callously shirks any responsibility or commitment, and peculiarly, Leslie tempers Yuddy's wantonness with a pinprick of vulnerability that is so amazingly vicarious and betrays what a beautifully damaged goods he is, and Wong's trademark ambient construction of its blue-hued, mise-en-scène (poky space, lustful undertow, ambiguous closeups, plus aesthetic compositions by the yard, marked by his first collaboration with Christopher Doyle) and exotic music numbers impeccably tallies with Leslie's decadent and destructive charisma, to great lengths that one can hardly distinguish whether he is acting or not.

Yuddy's victims include a mousy stadium ticket clerk Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung, exuding an unyielding quality of passiveness and self-involvement that shows up her acting chops), and later a vivacious cabaret dancer Mimi (a no-holds-barred Carina Lau, achingly taking the short end of the stick as a crass, cast-off lover), these two girls are diametrical in their makeups, yet, in the eyes of Yuddy, they barely differ, his misogynistic perspective has its own provenance, raised by Rebecca (Pan), an erstwhile fille-de-joie who perversely keeps a lid on the identity of Yuddy's biological mother, Yuddy revels in their toxic love/hate relationship, which exacerbates through their bilingual (Shanghainese and Cantonese) barbs-exchange, Pan remarkably holds her own with moxie and pathos in this quintessential object lesson of the hand that rocks the cradle.

When Yuddy is off screen, the plot meanders into less appealing subplots pairing a distraught Mimi with Zeb (Jacky Cheung), Yuddy's buddy, who carries a torch for her; and a distressed Lizhen with a peripatetic policeman Tide (Andy Lau), who will later become a sailor and comes across Yuddy during the third act in Philippines, as a witness when the latter's fate is sealed by his reckless action. Wong and co-screenwriter Jeffrey Lau lard the narrative with incisive wheezes to decipher Yuddy's existential philosophy, from his one-minute friend pick-up line to the allegory of the feet-less, paradise bird, poetically encapsulates Wong's story-light, mood-heavy winning allure.

Lastly, Tony Leung Chiu-wai's famous cameo as the new "ah fei" near the coda seems out of nowhere today, but as a matter of fact, it strongly tantalizes what its botched sequel would be if it would be green-lit, and Tony would become Wong's most eminent leading man ever since. In a sense, it inadvertently adds a strange layer of mystique which drastically boosts Wong's nascent career, and presages his future auteurist ascension, as we would know by now, the best is yet to come.

Back then (00's) i was a big fan of Kar-Wai Wong. I considered his movies as masterpieces (2046, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, CHUNGKING EXPRESS, THE HAND segment from EROS). I liked also MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS, it was an inferior movie though. I had not watched other movies of his.

During the first part of DAYS OF BEING WILD, i was thinking that this is a good movie, even though i was not so much impressed. Wong's touch is obvious for anyone who has watched his movies. Same themes, same narrative, not much coherence, a bit dreamy, a bit sad, a bit poetic etc. However, the last 20 minutes half ruined this. The events didn't make much sense. I am not looking for verisimilitude in a KWW movie but still, those minutes seemed rushed to me. Even dumb. And even worse, i didn't care at all about those characters. Supposedly, a big tragedy happened in the ending. But i was not moved at all. A tragedy should be something devastating not boring.

So, i was totally alienated from everything here. That was not the case during the first part. But the second part felt flat. This is not a good KWW movie. Still watchable though, and directing was very good.

This movie was WKW's second feature film, the first to collaborate with cinematographer Chris Doyle, the first to follow his artistic obsessions. The movie had a great cast: Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Andy Lau, Rebecca Pan, Jacky Cheung, all these along with Tony Leung Chiu Wai (who played in a cameo). Despite all these assets the movie started by being a commercial failure (as the director told once, in Korea the attendance even threw things at the screen). The style of Wong Kar-Wai (or the style of Chris Doyle, or both) was simply too new, too unexpected.

Years have passed and Wong Kar-Wai (along with Chris Doyle) became well-known worldwide, and each of their movies is now considered as iconic. I wouldn't get tired watching any of their movies as many times as it gets: each time I understand a nuance in more depth.

What could be told in a few words about this movie? It's time and love, and it's a meta-story: other stories built within the main story, each of the embedded stories with a life and a poignancy of their own, unfolding without haste, while not impeding on the main story - chapels in a cathedral.

You have the sensation of being there, everything has such an immediacy that it's like it happens to you, right there during the screening. There is the main character, a womanizer dreaming to find someday his estranged mother, meanwhile seducing and then getting rid of everything he meets, abusive and careless in all his relations, with men and women alike; there are the girls, seduced and abandoned; there are the other men, witnessing all this and falling for the girls, hopelessly... and it's like you are there, in the skin of each personage, as each of the embedded stories is flowing, as the main story is flowing, you are the womanizer, leaving sentimental carnage on your way, you are each girl, enjoying your erotic accomplishment, rejected, despaired, you are each of the men, empathizing with the girls, trying to help them, longing for them, you are the substitute mother, ambiguous in your feelings for the boy you raised, you are the real mother, not showing anything which is in your heart, not even to yourself.

Days of Being Wild is considered as the first part in a loose trilogy dealing with love and time (together with In the Mood for Love and 2046). Actually love and time remained the preoccupation also in the movies following this so-called trilogy: think for instance at The Hand, WKW's episode from Eros, made in 2004 - and the preoccupation remains also in My Blueberry Nights (which is also a meta-story, by the way).

All these movies mirroring love and time in countless ways. Time marked by the passing of histories of love replacing the passing of years, down to implosion: stories of seduction, stories of desire, stories of love just imagined, stories of longing, stories of despair. Love trying to destroy the reality of time: "I've heard that there's 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." Time as illusion, love as illusion - time has lost any significance, because it was replaced by histories of love - while love exploded and lost any meaning from the very beginning - reality as illusion: "the fact is that the bird hasn't gone anywhere; it was dead from the beginning."

This is the first film of Vuong Gia Ve I've watched. To be honestly, this film seems really dark from the beginning till the end. I like the symbol of the no-leg bird and the man it presents. I think that pain is the thing that people can't avoid in the whole life. This film also present about the desire and search for identity of characters. When people was born, they had a responsibility for those.

Now, don't get me wrong, a pretentious film can be good entertainment. (If not, then every film David Lean ever directed would be unwatchable.) But this film has little redeeming value other than trendy filmic aesthetics and atmosphere (which is why it merits a 3 instead of a 1).

It's a self-consciously arty movie with an ensemble of dead-end characters who eventually reach their dead ends. Aside from the policeman, none of these characters will evoke in you any empathy.

In fact, when it's over, you will have the sinking feeling that you have just wasted 90 minutes of your precious life.