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Days of Being Wild

阿飛正傳

  • Status: Released
  • 15-12-1990
  • Runtime: 94 min
  • Score: 7.272
  • Vote count: 526

Yuddy, a Hong Kong playboy known for breaking girls' hearts, tries to find solace and the truth after discovering the woman who raised him isn't his mother.

Leslie Cheung

Yuddy

Andy Lau

Tide

Maggie Cheung

Su Li-zhen

Carina Lau

Leung Fung-ying

Jacky Cheung

Zeb

Rebecca Pan

Rebecca

Tony Leung

Chow Mo-wan

Maritoni Fernandez

Hotel Maid

Alicia Alonzo

Housekeeper

Tita Muñoz

Yuddy's Mother

Hung Ling-Ling

Nurse

Angela Ponos

Prostitute

Danilo Antunes

Rebecca's Lover

Elena Lim So

Hotel Manageress

Mei-Mei Hung

Amah

Nonong Talbo

Train Conductor

Mama Hung

CinemaSerf

I suppose you might call the dashingly handsome "Yuddy" (Leslie Cheung) a bit of a Lothario. He has good looks and charm, and he sails through life thinking only of himself. His ideal existence comes to a bit of an abrupt halt, though, when his alcoholic courtesan of a mother "Rebecca" (Rebecca Pan) reveals to him in a drunken stupor that she isn't actually his mother at all. The rug has now been pulled from under his cocky feet and he now embarks on a rather self destructive journey to find out just who the real woman is. After an initial relationship with "Su Li-zhen" (Maggie Cheung) he finds himself hooked up with dancer "Mimi" (Carina Lau) but no nearer his ultimate goal. It's only when "Rebecca" decides to set off with her newest beau for a new life that she dispatches "Yuddy" to the Philippines where his answer lies. Meantime, "Su Li-zhen" has again found herself alone after her boyfriend decides to leave his police job and become a sailor. Is it all possible that the two might reconcile? Now, there is definitely something of the episodic - even soap opera - about this film. An unlikable and frankly selfish character seeking his own truth for his own reasons, but to be fair to the director and the writers, they manage to elevate it from the more tabloid and gradually develop the characters into creatures with whom we can, to an extent, empathise. There are façades all over the place, truth and honesty and trust are near, but in shadows - and the use of the dark, rainy, Hong Kong scenarios provides ample locations for all of those to hide - and from which to be discovered. Not my favourite of Wong Kar-wai's films - it is just a little predicable - but still, he packs lots into ninety minutes and the cast deliver well - especially Maggie Cheung - and I did enjoy it.