Let's be realistic.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This movie has high ratings in IMDb and other rating sites, so I wanted to see what it's about.It's about a playboy and how he seduced and abandoned his women, and the argument between him and his step mother. They argue because his step mother won't tell him who his real mother was, but he wants to find his real mother.The characters are obnoxious or pathetic. There's no one to sympathize with. At the end of the movie, a new character is introduced with no relevance to the rest of the movie. Editing error? Perhaps the high rating is because of the famous Hong Kong actors. I feel like I'm looking at an abstract painting. Other people are dazzled by it, but I don't see anything.

A film for the search of one's own root, own home, about the continuation of the journey for love, it is all the same when people are young and it applies to all people despite the generation gap or changes in the society.Disappointment always emerges after a high expectation is given. Leung finds Yuddy's house is not special after a long-time expectation, it would mean without the initial expectation, disappointment would be avoided. However people would always live with expectation, especially throughout the whole film. So Li-zhen hopes for marriage with Yuddy, Leung Fung-Ying hopes to be together with Yuddy while Zeb hopes to be with Leung, Yuddy wants to get along with his biological mother and Tide hopes to receive the phone call from So Li-zhen. Everyone has his or her own hopes but finally all of them are disappointed.The film name is actually reflecting days of youngsters and frivolity when young people would freely choose what to do without a price. They would not realize the end of life is coming, and they would try their best to go forward to search for more possibilities. No mentioning of responsibility and moral burdens would keep them move on and on, like the birds without legs said by Yuddy in the film.Another recurring theme in Wong Kar Wai's films is the motif of time, which is directly referenced in characters' dialogues, like So Li-zhen and Yuddy built up their relationship by the one-minute to 3 pm while Yuddy and Leung finished establishing their first sexual relation at around 3 am. Yuddy met Tide in the Philippines, and the time was also around 3 am. Both time periods are the same but distinct in terms of day and night. 3 am, or 3 pm, is at the middle of day/night, approaching sunset/sunrise, resembling the period of depravity and disorientation.The sleepless nights of different characters and the dark cinematography of scenes would be evidence of an intoxicating and restless status of the society and people living in there. Tide and So Li-zhen talked the whole night and later he talked with Yuddy when Yuddy wanted to drink until dawn. The static shot shows that time seem not to pass away so easily at these nights; a lot of establishing shots would be used to capture the features of the city (Hong Kong but not Philipines) which expresses a feeling of loneliness in the characters and time of pain and being alone would not easily leave.Remembering and forgetting is not only about the love stories and feelings of the characters, but also the history of the city and self identity. The 1960 setting for the story matches with the old songs featured in the films give audience impression of the era back into the past, the characters and the stories give the impression of youth and energy, they are still in the mood for passionate love with vigor and vitality. The film name also reminds us of an old film Rebel Without a Cause (1955), the era with a forever memorable star James Dean and his image similar with Yuddy. The setting also remind people of classic Hong Kong culture, the dance ball and nostalgic old song in the background, the local unique restaurant where the characters go to have lunch/tea, etc.Search of root is a way to find one's existing value and realize the self identity. The bird without legs is a legend, yet a cruel truth to Yuddy as well. Yuddy could not settle down at home because he was homeless since birth. The love from mother is the element he would never receive in his life. He did not choose to become the birds without legs, but the light steps following music and the shot showing his back without return already drive to the conclusion that Yuddy could only be flying till the end and the scene that Yuddy walk further and further away from the camera hints the character would die with the knot and never resolve his issue.Finally, these love stories are not only occurring in these characters and they would pass along as they are common and all people would be haunted by loving the wrong person or missing the right person. Therefore, the film has allowed a continuity to send us a message about Yuddy's death would not mean his personality's death. Chow Mo-wan's presence would be a metaphor for the society that there are a lot of people like him. In addition, when So opened her mind again and became ready for starting to love again, it has reinitiated the atmosphere for love to enter, meaning hope would continue and the character is still on the ride. Maybe there would be hurt in the journey, however after the event the characters, which resemble you and me, could still stand up and bravely strive for one's own happiness.After all, everyone would experience the same struggle and painful memory in different ages of their life, however, to remember or to forget is up to everyone's free will. Remembering the experience and learning from it would help shape a better handling of relationship in the future while forgetting the feeling would help relieve the emotional burden of your own self.

Many people here seem to be of the opinion that this film is not very typical of Wong's work. I would like to disagree. To me, this film is a very typical Wong film. That is, if you are expecting the absolutely perfect colours, pictures and frames of 'In the Mood for Love', you will be disappointed. This film, like many of his other films, has a more rough quality to it.All you who have seen 'In the Mood' and liked it should really see this film, as I don't think you can understand 'In the Mood' without having seen this one. I was not particularly overwhelmed by 'In the Mood', but now that I have seen this film, I at least understand the later film better. So maybe also those who did not like 'In the Mood' should see this one, as it might change their perception of that film.To me Wong Kar-Wai's best film is still Chungking Express. And this film, although kind of in line with that film, does not reach up to that standard. I am glad I saw this film, as it explains other parts of Wong's work to me, but were it not for the sake of understanding that bigger picture, I don't think I would recommend it.

Contrary to other reviewer's notions of the film, "Days of Being Wild" does have a plot. The movie is a tale of existential angst. Stephen Teo places the movie in the area of quasi gangster cum romance. In short "Days of Being Wild" is, in the tradition of "Rebel without a Cause" an 'ah fei' movie - a story of lost youth. A large portion of the movie centers on dysfunctional relationships and each and every character's existentialist angst. A really short synopsis follows. The movie is set in 1960s. Leslie Cheung plays the lead character of Yuddy - a self destructive narcissist who constantly hurts women.In this movie, much like "Ashes in Time" the target of his self destruction is Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung). As previously stated, the film centers on the youthful, Yuddy, who learns from the drunken ex-consort who raised him that she not his real mother. Yuddy's real mother has left him in her care and moved to the Philippines. Much of the story is situated around Yuddy's need to go to the Philippines to see his mother. I would assume that the lack of connection to the mother is part of the motivation for Yuddy's 'early object loss' and hence his inability to connect with either Su Lizhen or Lulu (a character who will show up again in 2046). Yuddy's "auntie," hoping to hold onto him, steadfastly refuses to reveal the name of his real mother. The revelation, predictably, unsettles Yuddy to his very center, unleashing a cavalcade of irreconcilable emotions.Two women form the two pillars of Yuddy's existential angst and not surprisingly have the bad luck of falling in love with Yuddy. Similar to Tomas - the main character of Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" Yuddy cannot settle down and is stuck (at least in his head) in the liminal space of both/and. Yet, the reality is that he is trapped in the world of either/or and not both/end. Just as Tomas cannot have Sabina AND Teresa, Yuddy cannot have both Su Lizhen AND Mimi. Both are beset with choices.On the one hand, we have Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung) who works at a sports arena selling refreshments at a kiosk. On the other hand, juxtaposed against Su Lizhen's 'plainness' (if we can ever call Maggie Cheung 'plain') is the persona of the glitzy showgirl Lulu or Mimi. It is clearly 'early object loss' that leaves Yuddy cold. As Lizhen slowly intimates her deep hurt over what is happening to her and Yuddy to Tide (Andy Lau), Tide begins to fall for her. The same, it is argued, might be said for Yuddy's Sancho Panza - Zeb (Jacky Cheung). Zeb find himself falling in love with Lulu. Yuddy learns of his birth mother's whereabouts and heads out to the Philippines. In the Philippines, he meets up with Tide and they encounter thugs who - not impressed with the 'ah fei' Yuddy, well, do him in. The last minute appearance of Tony Leung seems like a setup for the next movie... too bad we have not had the pleasure... yet? The movie may be all about Leslie Cheung but we should not forget the performances of Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, and Rebecca Pan. Despite the characters circling around the Yuddy character - each brings a dimension of their own into the movie. The strength, it is often argued, of Wong Kar Wai's movies is his highly developed (or undeveloped, yet very deep) characters.Par for the course, just like all his other movies, "Days of Being Wild" is visually stunning. Working with Christopher Doyle, 1961 Hong Kong comes to life. As a Filipino abroad, I could not help but feel nostalgic when the movie shifted to the Philippines. I know that 1960s in the Philippines was one filled with cars and urban centers and not only the lush jungle scenes that fill the mise-en-scene. Who cares... it is only a movie and a good one at that. The movie draws from all angles for its greatness - the characters, the acting, the mise-en-scene, the cinematography, the whole ball of wax. The movie can be analyzed on many levels and I fail to do that here. However, on one level, like voyeurs we watch Yuddy's self destruction and enjoy the cathartic element of the 'ah fei.' Bravo Wong Kar Wai! One more movie please! Miguel Llora