A spirited comedy that pokes fun at old-style Cantonese filmmaking and Wong Kar-Wai's 1990s art-house hits, but ever so gently. Dayo Wong plays a WK-W like director who is sent back 30 years and forced to make a movie under the conditions of the time. The film contains many refernces for film buffs, from Kwan Tak-Hing's cheesy "Wong Fei-Hung" series to the hilarious antics of "La Rose Noire".
Review by Paul Thompson:
You'll probably laugh, but you might not have gotten the object of satire by reading the subtitles, which is why I have provided this summary. I'm pretty sure Wong Jing was involved in this -- in fact one of the characters is Wong Jing as a young man. If you are a die hard Wong Kar Wai fan, you will laugh when you watch this film.
"Those Were the days" speculates on what would happen if a hot international art house director (a.k.a. WKW) were transported back in time to the 1960s Hong Kong film industry. Highlights include: WKW meets Wong Jing as a child and profoundly influences career; WKW attempts to make his kind of films with the resources, talent, and expectations of 1960s HK filmmakers, and a lot of other Hong Kong /Wong Jing style zaniness.
