Days of Being Wild
Encyclopedia
Days of Being Wild is a 1990
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....

 Hong Kong film directed by Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai BBS is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild , Ashes of Time , Chungking Express , Fallen Angels , Happy Together and 2046...

. The film stars some of the best-known actors and actresses in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, including Leslie Cheung
Leslie Cheung
Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing , nicknamed elder brother , was a film actor and musician from Hong Kong. Cheung was considered as "one of the founding fathers of Cantopop", and "combining a hugely successful film and music career".In 2000, Cheung was named Asian Biggest Superstar by China Central...

, Carina Lau
Carina Lau
Carina Lau Kar-ling is a Hong Kong actress. She was especially notable in the 1980s for her girl-next-door type roles in films....

, Maggie Cheung
Maggie Cheung
Maggie Cheung Man yuk is a Chinese actress from Hong Kong. Raised in England and Hong Kong, she has over 70 films to her credit since starting her career in 1983...

, Jacky Cheung
Jacky Cheung
Jacky Cheung is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor. The Chinese language media refers to him, Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings , with more than 60 million records sold as of 2000....

 and Andy Lau
Andy Lau
Andy Lau MH, JP is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer, actor, and film producer. Lau has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time...

. Tony Leung Chiu Wai
Tony Leung Chiu Wai
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai is a Hong Kong film actor and former TVB actor. A major film star since the 1990s, Leung has won nine Hong Kong Film Awards and three Golden Horse Best Actor awards...

 also appears in a silent cameo role lasting several minutes in the final shot of the film. Days of Being Wild also marks the first collaboration between Wong and cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...

 Christopher Doyle
Christopher Doyle
Christopher Doyle is a cinematographer. He has won the AFI Award for cinematography, the Cannes Technical Grand Prize, Golden Osella, the Golden Horse awards , and Hong Kong Film Award . Doyle is an affiliate of the Hong Kong Society of Cinematographers.-Biography:Doyle was born in Sydney,...

, with whom he has since made eight films.

The movie forms the first part of an informal trilogy, together with In the Mood for Love
In the Mood for Love
In the Mood for Love is a 2000 Hong Kong film directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung...

(released in 2000) and 2046
2046 (film)
2046 is a 2004 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. It is a loose sequel to the 1991 Hong Kong film Days of Being Wild and the 2000 Hong Kong film In the Mood for Love...

(released in 2004).

Plot details

The movie is set in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 in 1960. Yuddy, or 'York' in English (Leslie Cheung
Leslie Cheung
Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing , nicknamed elder brother , was a film actor and musician from Hong Kong. Cheung was considered as "one of the founding fathers of Cantopop", and "combining a hugely successful film and music career".In 2000, Cheung was named Asian Biggest Superstar by China Central...

), is a playboy in Hong Kong and is well-known for stealing girls' hearts and breaking them. His first victim is Li Zhen (Maggie Cheung
Maggie Cheung
Maggie Cheung Man yuk is a Chinese actress from Hong Kong. Raised in England and Hong Kong, she has over 70 films to her credit since starting her career in 1983...

) who suffered emotional and mental depression as a result of Yuddy's wayward attitude. Li Zhen eventually seeks much-needed solace from a sympathetic policeman named Tide (Andy Lau
Andy Lau
Andy Lau MH, JP is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer, actor, and film producer. Lau has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time...

). Their near-romance is often hinted at but never materialises.

York has forgotten his fling with the unassuming and shy Li Zhen and has set his attentions to a vivacious cabaret dancer whose stage name is Mimi (Carina Lau
Carina Lau
Carina Lau Kar-ling is a Hong Kong actress. She was especially notable in the 1980s for her girl-next-door type roles in films....

). Mimi is also secretly loved by York's best friend, Zeb (Jacky Cheung
Jacky Cheung
Jacky Cheung is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor. The Chinese language media refers to him, Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings , with more than 60 million records sold as of 2000....

). Unsurprisingly, York dumps her too and she begins a period of self-destruction. It later becomes evident that York's inability to commit and his instinct for romantic cruelty derives from conflicting feelings about his adoptive mother who is a former prostitute, played by Rebecca Pan
Rebecca Pan
Rebecca Pan Di-hua is a Chinese actress and singer.She was born in Shanghai on 29 December 1931. She moved to Hong Kong in 1949. Her singing career began in 1957...

; and his biological mother, a Filipino aristocrat.

Most sections of the film attempt to narrate how people react to rejection, although it was very vaguely depicted. This film was seen to be among the first of its genre popularised by Wong Kar-wai, it does not rely on a plot but more on the individual strengths of its many actors and actresses to narrate the story through their seemingly mundane day-to-day activities.

Days of Being Wild broke away from the light fare that typified Hong Kong cinema at the time by introducing thematic ambiguity and an arthouse aesthetic. Many other Hong Kong films such as Ashes of Time
Ashes of Time
-Critical:When the film opened in Hong Kong it received mixed reviews. Critics found it so elliptical that it was almost impossible to make out any semblance of a plot, something very rare in a wuxia film....

, Temptress Moon
Temptress Moon
Temptress Moon is a 1996 Chinese film directed by Chen Kaige. It was jointly produced by the Shanghai Film Studio and the Taipei-based Tomson Films...

, and In the Mood for Love
In the Mood for Love
In the Mood for Love is a 2000 Hong Kong film directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung...

belong to the same school of Hong Kong cinema.

Cast and roles

  • Leslie Cheung
    Leslie Cheung
    Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing , nicknamed elder brother , was a film actor and musician from Hong Kong. Cheung was considered as "one of the founding fathers of Cantopop", and "combining a hugely successful film and music career".In 2000, Cheung was named Asian Biggest Superstar by China Central...

     – Yuddy
  • Maggie Cheung
    Maggie Cheung
    Maggie Cheung Man yuk is a Chinese actress from Hong Kong. Raised in England and Hong Kong, she has over 70 films to her credit since starting her career in 1983...

     – Su Li Zhen. She grew up in Macau
    Macau
    Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

    . She is the ex-girlfriend of Yuddy.
  • Andy Lau
    Andy Lau
    Andy Lau MH, JP is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer, actor, and film producer. Lau has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time...

     – Tide, policeman 6117. He becomes a friend and confidant of Su Li Zhen. Later, after the death of his mother, he becomes a sailor and goes to the Philippines
    Philippines
    The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

    .
  • Carina Lau
    Carina Lau
    Carina Lau Kar-ling is a Hong Kong actress. She was especially notable in the 1980s for her girl-next-door type roles in films....

     – Leung Fung-ying, Mimi/Lulu. She is the girlfriend of Yuddy.
  • Rebecca Pan
    Rebecca Pan
    Rebecca Pan Di-hua is a Chinese actress and singer.She was born in Shanghai on 29 December 1931. She moved to Hong Kong in 1949. Her singing career began in 1957...

     – Rebecca, a former prostitute who raises Yuddy. Has a love and hate relationship with Yuddy, because she refuses to reveal the identity of Yuddy's biological mother.
  • Jacky Cheung
    Jacky Cheung
    Jacky Cheung is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor. The Chinese language media refers to him, Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings , with more than 60 million records sold as of 2000....

     – Zeb, Yuddy's friend since childhood. Yuddy used to live above Zeb's family's garage as a kid. Zeb fancies Mimi/Lulu.
  • Danilo Antunes – Rebecca's lover, who only goes for her money.
  • Hung Mei-Mei – The Amah.
  • Ling Ling-Hung – Nurse
  • Tita Muñoz
    Tita Muñoz
    Tita Muñoz was a Filipina actress.Born Maria Theresa Sanchez Muñoz, Muñoz started her career in radio in the 1950s. She moved to Sampaguita Pictures were she played mostly character roles. She received two FAMAS Best Supporting Actress Nominations, for Lilet and Patayin sa Sindak si Barbara...

     – Yuddy's Mother
  • Alicia Alonzo – Housekeeper
  • Elena Lim So – Hotel Manageress
  • Maritoni Fernandez
    Maritoni Fernandez
    Maritoni Fernandez is a Filipina character actress, model and entrepreneur.She is the daughter of an English father, Antony Moynihan, 3rd Baron Moynihan, and a Filipina mother. She is niece to Colin Moynihan, the current Baron Moynihan and head of the British Olympic Committee...

     – Hotel Maid
  • Angela Ponos – Prostitute
  • Nonong Talbo – Train Conductor
  • Tony Leung Chiu-Wai – unrelated cameo appearance in the last scene of the movie
  • Alan Tang
    Alan Tang
    Alan Tang Kwong-Wing was a Hong Kong film actor, producer and director.-Biography:Tang was born in Shunde, Guangdong, China, He is the youngest of four children, having two older brothers and one older sister...

     – Producer

Music

  • Los Indios Tabajaras
    Los Indios Tabajaras
    Los Indios Tabajaras was a guitar duo of two brothers from Ceará, in the Northeast of Brazil.Their beginnings are not clear, though most stories have them becoming accomplished guitar players after finding a guitar near Ceará, Brazil. Playing in Rio de Janeiro, they found success as Natalicio and...

    , "Always In My Heart"
  • Xavier Cugat
    Xavier Cugat
    Xavier Cugat was a Spanish-American bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a key personality in the spread of Latin music in United States popular music. He was also a cartoonist and a successful businessman...

  • Leslie Cheung
    Leslie Cheung
    Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing , nicknamed elder brother , was a film actor and musician from Hong Kong. Cheung was considered as "one of the founding fathers of Cantopop", and "combining a hugely successful film and music career".In 2000, Cheung was named Asian Biggest Superstar by China Central...

     performed the song 何去何從之阿飛正傳 loosely translated as 'Choice' or 'The True Story of Ah Fei' as the film's theme song and is also found in his album Beloved
    Most Beloved
    Most Beloved or Beloved is a Cantopop album by Leslie Cheung released in 1995 after a long personal struggle between deciding to make a comeback or to make good his retirement vow...

    (寵愛).
  • 梅豔芳 (Anita Mui
    Anita Mui
    Anita Mui Yim-fong was a popular Hong Kong singer and actress. During her prime years she made major contributions to the cantopop music scene, while receiving numerous awards and honours. She remained an idol throughout most of her career, and was generally regarded as a cantopop diva...

    ) - 是這樣的 - the Cantonese cover of the theme song and is featured at the end of the film during the credits.

Box office

Days of Being Wild grossed HK $9,751,942 in its Hong Kong run, a number that would become typical for a Wong Kar Wai film. With the starry cast, this figure was considered a disappointment. Still, the film was successful enough to warrant a parody (The Days of Being Dumb
The Days of Being Dumb
The Days of Being Dumb is a 1992 Hong Kong comedy film produced by Peter Chan, directed by Blackie Ko and starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Jacky Cheung, Eric Tsang , Kent Tong and actress Anita Yuen in her debut role...

, which also featured Tony Leung), and now routinely tops Hong Kong critics' lists of the best local productions.

Awards and nominations

  • 1991 Hong Kong Film Awards
    Hong Kong Film Awards
    The Hong Kong Film Awards , founded in 1982, are the most prestigious film awards in Hong Kong and among the most respected in mainland China and Taiwan. Award ceremonies are held annually, typically in April. The Awards recognize achievement in all aspects of filmmaking, such as directing,...

    • Won: Best Picture
    • Won: Best Director (Wong Kar-wai
      Wong Kar-wai
      Wong Kar-wai BBS is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild , Ashes of Time , Chungking Express , Fallen Angels , Happy Together and 2046...

      )
    • Won: Best Actor (Leslie Cheung
      Leslie Cheung
      Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing , nicknamed elder brother , was a film actor and musician from Hong Kong. Cheung was considered as "one of the founding fathers of Cantopop", and "combining a hugely successful film and music career".In 2000, Cheung was named Asian Biggest Superstar by China Central...

      )
    • Won: Best Art Direction (William Chang)
    • Won: Best Cinematography (Christopher Doyle
      Christopher Doyle
      Christopher Doyle is a cinematographer. He has won the AFI Award for cinematography, the Cannes Technical Grand Prize, Golden Osella, the Golden Horse awards , and Hong Kong Film Award . Doyle is an affiliate of the Hong Kong Society of Cinematographers.-Biography:Doyle was born in Sydney,...

      )
    • Nominated: Best Actress (Carina Lau
      Carina Lau
      Carina Lau Kar-ling is a Hong Kong actress. She was especially notable in the 1980s for her girl-next-door type roles in films....

      )
    • Nominated: Best Film Editing (Patrick Tam
      Patrick Tam
      Patrick Tam Kar Ming is a Hong Kong film director and film editor. He directed the 1987 film Final Victory, scripted by Wong Kar-wai.He edited Wong Kar-wai's Days of Being Wild, contributing the cameo appearance of Tony Leung Chiu-Wai in the last scene, and Ashes of Time, as well as Johnnie To's...

      )
    • Nominated: Best Screenplay (Wong Kar-wai
      Wong Kar-wai
      Wong Kar-wai BBS is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild , Ashes of Time , Chungking Express , Fallen Angels , Happy Together and 2046...

      )
    • Nominated: Best Supporting Actress (Rebecca Pan
      Rebecca Pan
      Rebecca Pan Di-hua is a Chinese actress and singer.She was born in Shanghai on 29 December 1931. She moved to Hong Kong in 1949. Her singing career began in 1957...

      )

  • 1991 Asia Pacific Film Festival
    Asia Pacific Film Festival
    The Asia Pacific Film Festival, first held in 1954, is film festival held annually in an Asian country designated by the Board of Directors of the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia-Pacific.Awards are handed out for:*Best Film*Best Director...

    • Nominated: Best Actor (Leslie Cheung
      Leslie Cheung
      Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing , nicknamed elder brother , was a film actor and musician from Hong Kong. Cheung was considered as "one of the founding fathers of Cantopop", and "combining a hugely successful film and music career".In 2000, Cheung was named Asian Biggest Superstar by China Central...

      )

  • 1997 Golden Bauhinia Awards
    Golden Bauhinia Awards
    Golden Bauhinia Awards is a Hong Kong film award organised by the Hong Kong Film Critics Association. Its first award presentation ceremony took place in 1996....

    • Won: Special Award (Best Hong Kong film of the last 10 years)

  • 2005 Hong Kong Film Awards
    Hong Kong Film Awards
    The Hong Kong Film Awards , founded in 1982, are the most prestigious film awards in Hong Kong and among the most respected in mainland China and Taiwan. Award ceremonies are held annually, typically in April. The Awards recognize achievement in all aspects of filmmaking, such as directing,...

    • Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures (#3)
    • Top 100 Favorite movies of Chinese Cinema (#2)

  • 2011 Golden Horse Film Festival
    • 100 Greatest Chinese-Language Films (#4)

See also

  • Cinema of Hong Kong
    Cinema of Hong Kong
    The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...

  • Christopher Doyle
    Christopher Doyle
    Christopher Doyle is a cinematographer. He has won the AFI Award for cinematography, the Cannes Technical Grand Prize, Golden Osella, the Golden Horse awards , and Hong Kong Film Award . Doyle is an affiliate of the Hong Kong Society of Cinematographers.-Biography:Doyle was born in Sydney,...

  • List of movies set in Hong Kong
  • List of Hong Kong films
  • Alan Tang
    Alan Tang
    Alan Tang Kwong-Wing was a Hong Kong film actor, producer and director.-Biography:Tang was born in Shunde, Guangdong, China, He is the youngest of four children, having two older brothers and one older sister...


External links

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