Blame it on his mother. She abandoned him as an infant and he has been having issues ever since.

A film that could be the core of a psych class, "Days of Being Wild" examines the self-centered life of Yuddy a smooth-talking lothario who tosses out lovers with chilling coldness. When he rejects So Lai-Chun’s plaintive question about marriage ("What about us?"), Yuddy never misses a beat, continually combing his lacquered hair. His behavior is equally repugnant with girlfriend Mimi, forced to scrub the floor as he takes a drag on his cigarette.

Incredibly, the women in his life continue to beg for his affections, including his adoptive mother whose motives appear creepily Oedipal, especially in light of her attraction to younger men and her refusal to tell Yuddy the identity of his birth mother.

So Lai-Chun (played poignantly by a Wong Kar-Wai regular Maggie Cheung of "Hero") is obsessed with Yuddy, standing outside his apartment building, hoping for another chance. Only the advice of a smitten policeman shakes her from this unrequited stupor. Even the cop suffers rejection when So never calls.

No one seems able to connect in this hypnotic exercise in frustration. And it is fascinating that writer/director Wong Kar-Wai punctuates this sense of human alienation by never showing anything sexual or intimate onscreen---never so much as a hug or kiss. Doorways are obstacles, mirrors hide true feelings. Playful bed wrestling aside, the story always omits any lovemaking, showing only the awkward minutes afterward.

And the minutes tick by slowly. Clocks and watches are central to the visuals in this intriguing—albeit snail-paced—examination of loneliness. Set in 1960s Hong Kong, the clocks move the old-fashioned way and Coke comes in bottles. "We’re one minute friends," Yuddy seductively tells So Lai-Chun as he initially woos her. Indeed, his short-lived relationships seem to be measured in these small increments of time.

Comparing himself to a "bird without legs who just flies and flies," Yuddy explains himself as a guy "who gets bored staying in one place too long." Actually he is rootless, deprived of the maternal affection that could have anchored his meaningless love life. An eerie pallor underscores Leslie Cheung’s chilling performance as the ennui-ridden Yuddy with the knowledge of his 2003 suicide.

The angst of sexual frustration permeates with a tempo that nearly paralyzes the film and perhaps that explains this 1991 film’s cool reception when first released. Seen within the framework of Wong Kar-Wai later films—"In the Mood for Love," "Chungking Express"- that expand on similar themes, "Days of Being Wild" is better appreciated as an intriguing appetizer in this filmmaker’s budding career.