Days of Being Wild

Days of Being Wild
by Kar Wai Wong

Days of Being Wild
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DVD details

Actor: Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Rebecca Pan
Director: Kar Wai Wong
Cinematographer: Christopher Doyle
Writer: Kar Wai Wong
Editor: Kit-Wai Kai
Editor: Patrick Tam
Producer: Alan Tang
Producer: Joseph Chan
Producer: Rover Tang
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); Tagalog (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 94 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-10-19
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Kino Video

DVD Reviews of Days of Being Wild

DVD Review: Days of Being Wild (1991)
Summary: 4 Stars

Out of all of his films, Wai, in a personal statement is said to look back upon Days of Being Wild with great affection and it is easy to see why. Those familair to the sytle and thematics of Wai will instantly be able to relish the familair trappings, yet with new issues such as; abuse, denial, and maternal relationships. The dreamy, atmospheric cinematography of Christopher Doyle slowly seduces the senses and the heart. While the aural, operatic storyline frequently borders on tragedy, the film contains Wai's irresistible underpinning of irony and spiritedness. Overall, Days of Being Wild features beautiful, reminicient scoring, breaktaking scenery, ferocious performances and strong production values. My rating 4.5/5! A very human story of love (or not) and redemption.
Downside: The Kino Video restoration of the film is satisfactory and nothing more. While films such as Happy Together and Chungking Express have garnered second and even third restorations, you'd think Days of Being Wild would be an equally, if not more substatial priority to those with material rights.

DVD Review: not enjoyable for non-intellectuals
Summary: 2 Stars

I have just read a lengthy review of this movie hailing it as an existential masterpiece. What's wrong with me? I didn't like it at all and found it all but unintelligible. Perhaps I'm just not intellectual enough. All I want from a movie is a good plot, good actors, good photography, a story I can understand and characters I can get involved with. Is that too much to ask?
Here we have a hero who treats the two women in his life like crap. His problem apparently stems from his adoptive mother who took him for the money and refuses to reveal the identity of his birth mother. Eventually, after a lot of yack, she does so but when the protagonist travels to meet her, he is rejected. Suddenly, after all this, there is a shoot-out in a restaurant and another one on a train (why this happens, don't ask me because I totally didn't get it) and everyone dies. End of story.
I did like the noirish atmosphere surrounding this movie, most of which seems to happen in the pouring rain, but the "hero" seems to be a case of arrested development who can't stop combing his greasy hair. Why two attractive women fall so hard for him I couldn't say. Perhaps they have masochistic tendencies. Perhaps I did too, sticking this out to its totally unsatisfying end.

DVD Review: Poetic and Beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars

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

DVD Review: Days of being languorous, you mean
Summary: 3 Stars

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.

DVD Review: Loving someone that likes to tell the story of "a kind of bird without legs that can only fly and fly..."
Summary: 4 Stars

"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

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