Steineded
How sad is this?
Holstra
Boring, long, and too preachy.
HottWwjdIam
There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.
rooprect
Kar Wai Wong's 2nd feature film is considerably more abstract than his first "As Tears Go By". so if you're looking for a good first Kar Wai Wong film to watch, you should probably start there."Days of Being Wild" reminded me very much of the classic French book "The Stranger" by Albert Camus; in fact I wonder if Kar Wai Wong may have been influenced by that book. Both stories center around a young man who is very unemotional except at times of explosive violence. Both stories show the young man to have severe mommy issues, i.e. a disconnection from his mother resulting in never learning how to show love and caring. And in both stories, the main character follows a very existentialistic path in life. He goes wherever life may take him with no connection to people or places.The main character is not very likable. In fact he's a downright jerk toward women. But this ties in with the story of him trying to find his mother who abandoned him when he was a child. At the same time we see the interweaving of 4 other characters: 2 girlfriends, 1 devoted friend who falls for one of the girlfriends, and a policeman who enters the story by chance. Oh yeah, there's also the young man's rich aunt (adoptive mother) and a string of men she keeps.It may be tough keeping up with all the characters, especially when the story starts moving to different locations. Certain events may seem random, but in the end it all comes together with a very poetic thought.If you're a cinema geek, you'll love this film for its sheer technical achievements. A lot of scenes are shot with reflections & mirrors, allowing us to see the faces of different people simultaneously (without the camera jumping back & forth to whoever is talking). For example, the camera may be on a woman while she talks to a man. He is in front of the camera with his back to us, but we see his face & expressions in the reflection of a bathroom mirror behind the woman. Yea, I'm a cinema geek so I love stuff like that. If you like little details, you'll have a great time watching "Days of Being Wild".
Eva Hou
Wong Kar-wai's 1990 film Days of Being Wild is one of my favorite artistic films. On the surface, the film itself doesn't have a complete storyline, neither a very clear and strong ending as most film does; but in depth, it is a story about life. Not only the life of the characters within the film, but also reflects the life for everyone else. More or less, most people can feel themselves somehow related to either one of the main characters on a certain level in a specific period of time in their own life. The narrative approach of this film has a very interesting approach. With the minimum amount of actor's lines alongside the maximum amount of different scenes between the main characters, you can still clearly see the development of the whole story, at the same time, it gives audience a lot space to understand and feel the film themselves. 'Time' and 'searching' are the two key elements that I felt connected with the most after watching this movie.About 'time'; it is really obvious that Wong Kar-wai used the 'clock' to show the passing of time and its endless; fast or slow, boring or nervous. The 'time' in this movie has emotions. It helped express the actors' inner world without any conversation. While Yuddy (Leslie Cheung) was counting the last minute before 3PM, 1960.04.16, to Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung), the sound of the second hand comes into the background music, along with the facial expression of Su Lizhen, the sound of the clock seems like her heart beats. It shows her nervous, anxious and desire of knowing what Yuddy is going to tell her after that 60 seconds. After Yuddy and Su Lizhen broke up, Su Lizhen met Tide (Andy Lau), a general police who is always on night shift. On the night Tide asked her to forget Yuddy from this minutes onwards, the clock from the building near appeared, along with a very loud sound shows 12AM exactly. This sound has a lot figurative meanings. It is the ending of the passing days also the entry of a brand new day. 'Time' here reminds Su Lizhen a lot. The minute that Yuddy said he will remember her forever because of that specific minute; the minute that she thinks she should forget Yuddy forever. It shows the sadness and helpless deep in Su Lizhen's heart and the memories and love that she has on Yuddy. Apart from these two scenes, the clock in Yuddy's apartment, Tide's watch, the bedside table clock, the clock in Yuddy's adopted mother's house, etc., all has the element of time in it and helped to develop the whole story to make it more vivid. Although 'time' in this movie helped to build up the characters' inner world, but the other meaning Wong Kar-wai wanted to show is that the endless, emotionless and cruel of time. No matter what happens to anyone in the world, time is always the bystander. When time passing by, one has no choice to leave the past and move on. Other than 'time', I personally think that 'searching' also plays an important part in this movie. All the characters are searching for something to fulfill their life. Yuddy was looking for his real mother; Tide was hoping to get out of the world of Hongkong and be a sailor which he wanted to be when he was young; Mimi (Carina Lau) was chasing Yuddy around, which he is always a mystery to her; Su Lizhen was seeking for the true love of her life, etc. There is a purpose behind each character's every action or movement. Some people successfully gain what they were looking for, but there is no guarantee that they will feel happy after they found out the truth, like Yuddy, there wasn't any happiness after he went to where his real mother lives. Some people thought they found what they were looking for, but then missed the real one that they supposed to seek. Although Yuddy still remembered the last minute before 3PM, 1960.04.16, before he died; but he is not the right person for Su Lizhen. While Su Lizhen was still taking her time of thinking about Yuddy and healing herself, she missed Tide, who is a more a person for her and can give her a family. While she realized that she still wanted to talk to Tide, she called, but Tide quited as a policeman already, they missed each other. It is very easy for people to related themselves to either of the characters in this movie; the movie is a mirror of anyone's life. The most exciting and obvious proved for this is the ending of this film. With the train passing by, it comes the end of Yuddy's life. However, one 'Yuddy' is gonna, another 'Yuddy' comes, which is the character that Tony Leung acted at the end of the movie. With the endless of time, all things will eventually cycle; the stories that happened towards all the main characters still happening in our everyday life, it never ends.
Chrysanthepop
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.
tedg
Sublime suspension.A very satisfying affair: here's the first project where Kar-Wai Wong found his groove with the Spanish notion of metastory, the story about how one hesitates in resolving what they see in life. And how that is a matter of touch. And how touch is word — and how one can touch and speak with the eye.The first project with Doyle. And with Maggie. In a way, the first version of "Mood/2046." I think no one understands cinematically suspended longing like this man. When you enter this, you enter a space where everything is connected, every connection is passionately loaded and seen. But there is no logic, no comprehension, no future. Ever.Its anti-love but fulfilling nonetheless. Its empty in a rich way. Its about created selves in the French New Wave sense, but those selves then being honestly inhabited.If you love, really love, it has to rest on the earth in some way. There seem to be only a few ways to rest, the usual one being a matter of anchors and roots. This is different, a matter of frictionless liquidity — a local zone of antigravity where the love seems fixed by never really touches the planet. There are several metaphors in the story along these lines.We may not have the courage to love in this way even if we are among the few who chance love at all. But it is a rather sublime visit, this.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
