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:

Student | Boy | Courier | Messenger | Hotel

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:

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

Filming Locations:

Beijing, China

Company:

Pyramide Productions

Trivia:

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

Complexity in Several Layers

"Beijing Bicycle" has a superficial similarity to "The Bicycle Thief," a true classic, but it presents a darker and deeper story. Set in Beijing it tracks the efforts of a young man from the countryside to find his self-sufficient place in a bustling and rawly energetic city. For him, obtaining a position as a bicycle messenger for a company serving the commercial firms of the city seems to be a satisfactory end, not a beginning as it probably would be were this film set in a Western metropolis.

For a New Yorker, where bicycle messengers are simultaneously often hated and frequently and with good measure feared, the operation of the Beijing counterpart, with messengers uniformly attired and equipped with identical mountain bikes, is both strange and familiar.

Central to the film is the theft of the coveted bicycle one day before it would become the personal property of the messenger (the company's scheme allows employees to earn ownership after what appears to be a short period of service). The bike turns up in the hands of a post-high school youth, part of a loose gang of bicycle worshipers. Much of the story revolves around the subsequent relay race of seizures of the bike with attendant and escalating violence.

The intensity of the competition between two young men for the bike reflects its importance not only economically (bikes appear in huge numbers in wide shots of broad avenues and busy streets) but also personally. These young men probably don't even have nocturnal fantasies of car ownership.

A wary but real bond develops between the suitors for bike ownership and the violence that engulfs them is palpably real and painful to watch. There is no real resolution for either of them it seems.

"Beijing Bicycle" would have benefited from some judicious editing and the deletion of an extraneous secondary story line (or two) that detracts from the main tale. The score is very nice and the acting strong. This is not the Beijing of Tianamen Square or of the flourishing fast food outlets. It is, however, a Beijing that has a number of striking similarities to neighborhoods known to many of us. And in that lies the film's interest and attractiveness.