When Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai broke through to international acclaim with his 1994 film “Chungking Express,” it would have been the logical moment for releasing his earlier, award-winning picture, “Days of Being Wild.”
Wong has grown in renown and artistry over the years, but there never has been a proper stateside release of “Days of Being Wild,” a 1990 film. Until now.
Wong Kar-Wai’s movies have a peculiar timelessness about them, so the delay doesn’t hurt much. “Days of Being Wild” is set in the 1960s, but you could probably sit through the film without realizing that.
Like his other films, which include the stately “In the Mood for Love” and the frenetic “Fallen Angels,” this early effort (his second feature) presents a story in fragmented, jumbled-up form.
In fact, this director has little interest in story. He’s going after character and mood – the sound of a clock ticking in a room after sex, or the trail of cigarette smoke in a night lit by street lamps.
The central character here is Yuddy, an incorrigible womanizer played by Leslie Cheung. He seduces women with great tenderness, but loses interest.
We gradually learn that Yuddy has been raised by a foster mother, and that his central obsession is learning about his real mother. This defines his character, and leads the movie into its third act.
It’s hard to tell at any given time what the chronology of the movie is, however. Scenes go by, but they may not be in order. Everything in Yuddy’s life floats in suspension, side by side … sort of like memories of the past in your brain.
Other characters take over (and even narrate) from time to time. We follow one of Yuddy’s girlfriends, played by the fabulous Maggie Cheung (a frequent Jackie Chan co-star, also seen in last year’s “Hero”). She has a friendship with a lonely night patrolman (Andy Lau) who has his own story to tell.
Leslie Cheung is the star, though. This popular actor and singer, who starred in “Farewell, My Concubine” and John Woo’s “Better Tomorrow” films, ended his life by jumping from a Hong Kong hotel room in 2003. This is a reminder of his melancholy talent.
“Days of Being Wild” – what a marvelous title – is lushly photographed by Christopher Doyle, who did Wong’s other pictures and the eye-popping “Hero” and “Last Life in the Universe.” The gauzy, dreamy images invite you to fall into this movie, not watch it.
Wong Kar-Wai’s films are difficult, for that reason. I admit to being alternately enchanted and frustrated by most of his pictures. There’s no conventional way to get through this movie – you have to be willing to dream along with it.
The fabulous Maggie Cheung co-stars in “Days of Being Wild.”
“Days of Being Wild” HHH
Dreamlike: The second feature by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai (“In the Mood for Love”), this 1990 film is a typically fragmented, dreamlike effort, charting the path of a young womanizer (the late Leslie Cheung) in the 1960s. Also starring the fabulous Maggie Cheung. (In Cantonese, with English subtitles.)
Rated: Not rated; probably R for violence, subject matter.
Now showing: Varsity.
“Days of Being Wild” HHH
Dreamlike: The second feature by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai (“In the Mood for Love”), this 1990 film is a typically fragmented, dreamlike effort, charting the path of a young womanizer (the late Leslie Cheung) in the 1960s. Also starring the fabulous Maggie Cheung. (In Cantonese, with English subtitles.)
Rated: Not rated; probably R for violence, subject matter.
Now showing: Varsity.
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