Shiqi sui de dan che

I don't care what this film may have to say about the class struggle in Beijing-that entire aspect of the film being way too obviously stated for my taste. I was more concerned with my struggle to stay interested in what was happening. Back and forth, back and forth with the damn bicycle. Nobody speaks up when you want them to, and no one asks the question your mind is screaming in any given scene. All the characters behave inexplicably to the point of exasperating the viewer. Now I love a lot of potentially frustrating films (Neighbors, for example), and I'm not one to demand payoff out of hand. I can roll with films and see where they take me. But this one was taking me down aggravation alley. Beijing Bicycle looks good, and the writing is reasonably clever, so on the surface it makes a good 'import'-many will profess to have been deeply moved, but I'm not buying. Skip this one, but for a similar tale with leagues more depth, see Cyclo.