Days of Being Wild · reception & legacy

1990 · Wong Kar-Wai

How Days of Being Wild has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Bankrolled as a star-packed blockbuster after As Tears Go By, it bombed so badly in Hong Kong that its planned second part was scrapped — then swept Best Film and Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards and is now enshrined as the true beginning of Wong Kar-Wai's cinema.

What's debated

Fans still argue over the famous final-minutes Tony Leung cameo — a scene setting up a sequel that never came — and whether this, not In the Mood for Love, is peak Wong Kar-Wai.

Its footprint

The 'bird with no legs' monologue and the 'one-minute friend' bit (April 16, 1960, one minute before 3pm) are quoted endlessly, and Leslie Cheung's solo mambo to 'Maria Elena' is one of the most GIF-ed, referenced dance scenes in art cinema.

Where it stands

A cornerstone of the Wong Kar-Wai canon and a Letterboxd darling, treated as required viewing before In the Mood for Love and 2046 — and as Leslie Cheung's defining screen performance.

★ Did you know? Tony Leung Chiu-wai's enigmatic appearance in the final scene was the setup for a second installment that was cancelled when the film flopped at the box office — so his wordless cameo simply hangs there, one of cinema's great dangling threads.