Drifters (2003)
"Er di" (original title)

The young adult life of Hong Yunsheng, nicknamed Little Brother, is seen as somewhat of a failure by those that know him. A Chinese national, he stowed away on a boat to the United States, ... See full summary »

Director:

Xiaoshuai Wang

Writer:

Xiaoshuai Wang

Stars:

Yihong Duan, Yan Shu, Zhi-Liang Wang

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yihong Duan	...	Young Brother (as Long Duan)
Yan Shu	...	Little Girl
Zhi-Liang Wang	...	Liang (as Zhiliang Wang)
Yiwei Zhao	...	Big Brother
Yang Tang	...	Sister-in-Law
Peizhu Jin	...	Old Man
Da Ke	...	Son
Yioun Huang	...	Aunt
Jianlun Zheng	...	Village Chief
Juyong Liu	...	Young Man
Youjie Su	...	Monkey
Meijuan Zeng	...	Jan - Monkey's Wife
Tianzeng Huang	...	Ertao
Xuelan Fang	...	Erato's Wife
Yuyong Su	...	Policeman A

Storyline

The young adult life of Hong Yunsheng, nicknamed Little Brother, is seen as somewhat of a failure by those that know him. A Chinese national, he stowed away on a boat to the United States, where he worked as a dishwasher in the restaurant of a family from his hometown back in Fujian province. After two years in the States and after fathering an illegitimate child there named Fusheng, the child's mother Xuhui who is the restaurateur's daughter, he was deported back to China. Since, he has been floundering in life, which has caused a rift between himself and his older brother, who, with his wife, operate a street front diner and can't have children of their own. Little Brother relies on his new girlfriend, a woman he barely knows named Wu Ruifang who is a performer in a touring opera troupe, for emotional support. Despite Little Brother being the local poster boy for not stowing away, his friend named Monkey tried to do the same, but died on the voyage over due to exposure to toxic ...

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Plot Keywords:

chinese | boy | dishwasher | friend | law | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

China Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

2 November 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Drifters

Company Credits

Production Co:

Purple Light Films, People Workshop

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 120 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Slow but offers truthful insight into the plight of common, uneducated, Chinese rural citizens.

The pace of this movie is slow and would have been difficult to sit through had I not lived in North and South America and come into direct contact with Chinese who chose a path similar to the protagonist. What I learned was that life in the West was anything but ideal for these illegals. I witnessed 14 to 16 hour work days (usually in Chinese Restaurants), for 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Most Chinese regretted their decision to illegally go abroad but had no choice as they needed to work and repay family who put up the money for the voyage. For them, returning to rural China was not an option because going back a failure is unacceptable.

What this film does well is paint an accurate portrait of rural China today. Many young people are confused. Many lack the opportunity to gain an education or attain a skillful vocation. This ultimately leads people to make uninformed decisions with dire consequences. 6/10 for the fabulous cinematography.