Overview
A young man's quest for identity leads to tangled relationships and emotional turmoil.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- melancholic
- dreamy
- brooding
- late night viewing
- quiet reflective evening
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film as a beautifully filmed, darkly dreamy romantic drama with exceptional atmosphere and emotional ambiguity.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Yuddy, Su Li-zhen, Tide, Rebecca, and Zeb repeatedly orient their lives around past encounters and lost attachments.
Much of the film unfolds in dark rooms and trains, creating a restricted atmosphere around characters with limited futures.
Yuddy, Su Li-zhen, Mimi, Tide, and Zeb form overlapping attachments that rarely become mutual or stable.
The 1960 setting and characters' fixation on a vanishing past have been read as an indirect metaphor for Hong Kong's planned 1997 handover.
Films like Days of Being Wild, and why
In the Mood for Love
shared wistful romantic drama, fractured relationships, and contemplative visual style
2046
shared hong kong setting, melancholic romance, elliptical storytelling, and urban alienation
Chungking Express
shared emotionally elusive characters, doomed intimacy, and lyrical neo-noir atmosphere
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
shared restless youth, romantic disconnection, and dreamlike modernist mood
Movie Details
- Director
- Wong Kar-Wai
- Release Date
- 1990-12-15
- Runtime
- 94 min
- Rating
- 7.3 / 10 (619)
Cast
- Leslie Cheung
- Maggie Cheung
- Andy Lau
- Carina Lau
- Jacky Cheung Hok-Yau
- Rebecca Pan
- Tony Leung Chiu-wai
- Hung Ling-Ling
- Angela Ponos
- Danilo Antunes
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- HBO Max Amazon Channel
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Days of Being Wild about?
- A restless Hong Kong seducer’s search for his birth mother fractures a chain of doomed romances haunted by memory and abandonment.
- What is Days of Being Wild like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Days of Being Wild as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Days of Being Wild violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Days of Being Wild as moderate.
- What did critics think of Days of Being Wild?
- Critics broadly praised the film as a beautifully filmed, darkly dreamy romantic drama with exceptional atmosphere and emotional ambiguity.
- Which films are like Days of Being Wild?
- Films with a similar feel include In the Mood for Love, 2046, Chungking Express, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
- How long is Days of Being Wild?
- Days of Being Wild runs 94 minutes.
- Where can I watch Days of Being Wild?
- In United States, Days of Being Wild streams on HBO Max Amazon Channel.
