It took a while for Maggie Cheung to make a deep impression on me. I had seen her in two Jacky Chan vehicles that played theatrically, Supercop and Twin Dragons, but at the time I had little idea who the actors besides Chan were. Cheung was also in The Heroic Trio, a film I caught at a midnight screening. It's a fun film starring three of the top Hong Kong actresses of the time, with Cheung sharing the screen with Michelle Yeoh and the late, great and frequently hilarious Anita Mui. When I saw In the Mood for Love, I was convinced that one of the reasons why cinema was invented was to film Maggie Cheung from behind, wearing a form-fitting Cheongsam dress. A few months after seeing In the Mood for Love, I bought my first DVD player and began catching up on Hong Kong cinema.

Days of Being Wild looks somewhat like a sketch for Wong Kar-Wai's subsequent films. Two violent scenes indicate the influence of Martin Scorsese which permeated As Tears Go By. The themes of time and memory, love and loss, are explored here with lots of shots featuring clocks or watches. One of the dates in the film is April 16, 1960. Several of Wong's titles indicate some kind of chronology, most literally Ashes of Time. The film takes place in 1960 and 1961. Several of the characters are each given individual moments to provide first person narration. Leslie Chueng meets Maggie Chueng at a food stand, similar to the set up of Chungking Express. Latin dance and Hawaiian (?) guitar music suggest foreign destinations. In Days two men are in the Phillipines, in Happy Together two men are in Buenos Aires. Wong's characters find that travel is usually not an escape from unhappiness. Maggie Cheung portrays Su Li-zhen, a character she would repeat in In the Mood for Love and 2046. Days also marks the first collaboration of Wong with cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Providing confusion for those unfamiliar with Hong Kong cinema, Days of Being Wild also stars Jacky Cheung, who like Leslie Cheung is no relation to Maggie Cheung. Jacky Cheung did however star in the similarly titled but differently plotted Days of Being Dumb.

Dragon Inn is the Tsui Hark produced remake of a film by King Hu. It was Hu's film that was on the theater screen in Goodbye, Dragon Inn. The film is about two warring factions in Ming era China. A group led by Brigitte Lin who is initially disguised as a man are protecting two royal children from a powerful eunuch. Cheung portrays Jade, the owner of the Dragon Inn, a hotel in the middle of a vast desert. It's not enough for Cheung to sell her loyalties to the highest bidder, in her restaurant she serves "spicy meat buns" with a recipe from the Sweeney Todd cookbook. This is a film where there is little difference between foreplay and hand-to-hand combat. Whether throwing sharp objects at each other, or simply exchanging verbal barbs, the sparks between Lin and Cheung are palpable. There are two action set pieces involving elaborate sword play and gymnastics, as well as scenes with grisly humor. With Lin, an actress famed for several gender bending performances, the best scenes are with Cheung, where the boys aren't.