Days of being wild

Wong Kar-Wai has become one of the most respected and influential filmmakers in the world since coming to prominence in the 1990s. He is a highly imaginative film stylist, whose sensuous mise-en-scene, radical editing and fragmented narratives seem aptly appropriate for an increasingly decentered postmodern world. This early film, “Days of Being Wild”, is set in 1960 and examines the relationships Yuddi (Leslie Cheung), has with three women; his courtesan adopted mother, and his two very different girlfriends (Maggie Cheung and Carina Lau). Spoilt, pampered, rich and decadent, Yuddi seems to have everything he could ask for in life, but his one real desire remains unfulfilled; to discover the identity of his natural mother. Set in a searing hot Hong Kong summer, “Days of Being Wild” is a highly erotic and cynical examination of a young bourgeois man, devoid of self-discipline, who is able to remain a “boy” through his exploitation of adoring women. In this early film, the plush warm lighting, the rich cinematography and the exuberant, playful editing already reveal the spectacular craft and the romantic sensibility that distinguishes all of Kar-Wai’s films. In Cantonese with English subtitles.