Beijing Bicycle (2001)
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63% of critics liked it
(59 reviews) -
73% of users liked it
(4,734 ratings)
A young man from rural China struggles to make good in Beijing in this drama, which suggests an updated and relocated variation on the neorealist classic Ladri di Biciclette. Guei (Cui Lin) is a teenager who arrives in the big city looking for work; he and a handful of other youngsters are hired as… More A young man from rural China struggles to make good in Beijing in this drama, which suggests an updated and relocated variation on the neorealist classic Ladri di Biciclette. Guei (Cui Lin) is a teenager who arrives in the big city looking for work; he and a handful of other youngsters are hired as bicycle messengers, with their employer giving them new mountain bikes under the condition that they're paid ten yuan for each message they deliver, and the bicycles are theirs once they've made 58 trips. Guei discovers the job is not an easy one, as he deals with the complexity of the huge city, confusion over who gets what message, and the condescending attitude Beijing residents often display toward the new arrivals. Guei is determined to make good and is close to owning his bike when it's stolen; Guei's boss tells him the only way he can keep is job is if he can find the bicycle, which, in a city the size of Beijing, is no easy task. Against all odds, Guei finds the bicycle, but it's now in the hands of Jian (Li Bin), who claims he got it at a second-hand shop and isn't about to give it up. Guei steals the bike back from Jian, but now has to deal with the teenaged tough and his roughneck friends. Shiqisuide Danche was produced as part of a series of films from young Chinese directors called "Tales of Three Cities," co-produced by French and Taiwanese companies. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Rating, Runtime
- PG-13, 1 hr. 53 min.
- Directed By
- Wang Xiaoshuai
- Written By
- Wang Xiaoshuai, Tang Danian, Peggy Chiao, Hsu Hsiao-ming
- Genres
- Art House & International, Drama
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 2001 Wide
- On DVD
- Jul 9, 2002
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Classics
Critic Reviews
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Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle
An artful yet depressing film that makes a melodramatic mountain out of the molehill of a missing bike.
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Peter Howell, Toronto Star
With Beijing Bicycle, Wang has crafted a picturesque morality tale that slyly depicts the hopelessness of communism while pointing up the essential similarities between people of all classes.
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Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
Make no mistake, [Wang's] camera is saying, and don't be deceived by the Communist rhetoric -- this city is as class-ridden as any in the West.
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Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
While Wang Xiaoshuai's film doesn't plumb the depths, nor resonate with the kind of profound irony of Vittoria De Sica's 1947 classic, it is nonetheless an affecting, poignant drama.
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Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
What's most unusual about Beijing Bicycle in terms of recent Chinese history is that any form of class conflict is depicted at all.
Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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