Beijing Bicycle (2001) Shiqi sui de dan che (original title)

Director:

Xiaoshuai Wang

Writers:

Peggy Chiao
Hsiao-ming Hsu
(more)

Release Date:

25 April 2001 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A seventeen-year-old country boy working in Beijing as a courier has his bicycle stolen, and finds it with a schoolboy his age.

Plot Keywords:

Courier | Bicycle | Boy | Hotel | Messenger

Awards:

2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Lin Cui	...	Guo Liangui (as Cui Lin)
Bin Li	...	Jian
Xun Zhou	...	Qin
Yuanyuan Gao	...	Xiao
Shuang Li	...	Da Huan
Yiwei Zhao	...	Father
Yan Pang	...	Mother
Fangfei Zhou	...	Rongrong
Jian Xie	...	Manager
Yuhong Ma	...	Accountant
Lei Liu	...	Mantis
Mengnan Li	...	Qiu Sheng
Jian Li	...	Jian's Classmate
Yang Zhang	...	Jian's Classmate
Yuzhong Wang	...	Jian's Classmate
Wei Hui	...	Jian's Classmate
Hua Ji	...	Bicycle Rider
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jiayin Chang	...	Xiao's Classmate
Yan Wang	...	Xiao's Classmate
Lei Zhang	...	Xiao's Classmate
Yu Zhang	...	Bicycle Rider
Hougang Zhen	...	Bicycle Rider
Xun Zhon	...	Qin

Directed by
Xiaoshuai Wang

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Peggy Chiao
Hsiao-ming Hsu
Danian Tang
Xiaoshuai Wang

Produced by
Michael Chiao	....	co-producer
Peggy Chiao	....	producer
Anne Devauchelle	....	coordinating producer
Sanping Han	....	producer
Hsiao-ming Hsu	....	producer
Eric Lagesse	....	coordinating producer
Zhongye Ma	....	line producer
Dong-ming Shi	....	co-producer
Fabienne Vonier	....	associate producer
Xia Zhang	....	coordinating producer

Original Music by
Feng Wang

Cinematography by
Jie Liu

Film Editing by
Ju-kuan Hsiao
Hongyu Yang

Production Design by
Anjun Cao
Chao-yi Tsai

Set Decoration by
Anjun Cao
Chao-yi Tsai

Costume Design by
Yan Pang

Makeup Department
Jiajia Li	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Bing-hsi Hsu	....	executive in charge of production
Bing-hsi Hsu	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Le Niu	....	assistant director
Weijie Yu	....	assistant director

Art Department
Guangbo Liu	....	property

Sound Department
Chen Chen	....	sound
Du-Che Tu	....	sound designer
Du-Che Tu	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Yang Jiang	....	assistant camera
Chao Wei	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Ju-kuan Hsiao	....	assistant editor
Ching-Song Liao	....	supervising editor
Hongyu Yang	....	assistant editor

Production Companies

• Pyramide Productions
• Arc Light Films
• Public Television Service Foundation (in association with)
• Eastern Television (in association with)
• Asiatic Films (in association with)
• Beijing Film Studio (in association with)
• Ministère de la Culture (support)
• Ministère des Affaires Étrangères (support)

Distributors

• Pyramide Distribution (2002) (France) (theatrical)
• Vértigo Films (2002) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Teodora Film (2002) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2002) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Columbia TriStar Films Pty. Ltd. (2002) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Arsenal (2002) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Metro Tartan Distribution Ltd. (2002) (UK) (theatrical)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (2002) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Seville Pictures (2001) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (200?) (Netherlands) (video)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Seville Pictures (2002) (Canada) (DVD)
• Sunfilm Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• trigon-film (2004) (Switzerland) (DVD) (subtitled)

Other Companies

• Beijing Baifu Palace  special thanks
• Beijing Booming City Hotel  special thanks
• Cinerent  equipment
• Instec Video Technology  equipment
• Merida Bicycle  special thanks
• Ramindra Sound Recording Studios  mixing and optical transfer
• Well-Informed Publicity Services  special thanks

Also Known As:

"Shiqi sui de dan che" - France (original title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violence and brief nudity

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

France | Taiwan | China

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Beijing, China

Company:

Pyramide Productions

Trivia:

The arcade game that Jian and his friends play is "Dance Dance Revolution".

Excellent film; could possibly be a critical hit in the U.S.

When you read a synopsis of Beijing Bicycle, it may remind you of Vittorio de Sica's 1948 masterpiece The Bicycle Thieves. A poor man, having recently come to the city from the country, wins a job at a bicycle courier business, and, on a delivery, gets his bike stolen. He then proceeds to search the city of Beijing to retrieve it. Luckily, it quickly veers away from being a simple update of that classic story. He finds the alleged thief, a high school kid, and steals it back. For the first hour or more, the bike moves back and forth between them. The two characters are compared and contrasted, and it works as an effective class study.

The direction and editing are particularly great in the film. The climax involves two intersecting chases, and it is one of the best stages sequences I've ever seen. There are a couple of problems, small ones for me, but perhaps big ones for critics and audiences. The high school kid is extraordinarily unlikable. A person behind me declared loudly, "What a brat!" And he is. I personally don't mind if a character is unsympathetic (although we are asked to sympathize with him, I believe). My own biggest problem is that the ending is slightly unsatisfactory. There's not much closure. Still, Beijing Bicycle is an excellent film. 9/10.