DAYS OF BEING WILD by Wong Kar Wai [1991]
“Wong Kar-wai’s 1991 film — his second feature and his first collaboration with his signature cinematographer Christopher Doyle — makes its belated Seattle theatrical debut. The late Hong Kong heartthrob Leslie Cheung is all narcissism and insolence as a lothario who seduces lonely nice girl Maggie Cheung and sneering, shallow showgirl Carina Lau, apparently out of boredom. There’s little passion in him apart from his desperation to find his real mother, whose identity his aging, alcoholic foster mom (a calloused and crafty Rebecca Pan) refuses to divulge. Set in the 1960s and shot on practically deserted locations, there isn’t much “story” to the impressionistic film, but the languorous atmosphere of longing, disconnection and emotional isolation is hypnotic. Doyle’s handheld camerawork is intimate and curious and his hazy colors radiate off the screen. The score is cocomposed of lush instrumental Hawaiian exotica and lounge music, but it’s the sounds of ticking clocks, echoing footsteps down empty hallways and alleys, and squeaky of windshield wipers in the rain that defines their empty lives and broken relationships. Andy Lau and Jackie Cheung co-star. (Sean Axmaker)”
seattlepi.com
