Beijing Bicycle (2001)

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

Director:

Xiaoshuai Wang

Writers:

Peggy Chiao, Hsiao-Ming Hsu

Stars:

Lin Cui, Xun Zhou, Bin Li

2 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Beijing: young men in packs, machismo, class divisions, violence, and indifference. Guei arrives from the country: toothbrushes, hotel foyers, and Qin, a rich neighbor in high heels, dazzle him. He gets a job as a messenger. The company issues him a bike, which he must pay for out of his wages. When it is stolen, Guei hunts for it. A student, Jian, has it; for him, it's the key to teen society - with his pals and with Xiao, a girl he fancies. Guei finds the bike and stubbornly tries to reclaim it in the face of great odds. But for Jian to lose the bike would mean humiliation. The two young men - and the people around them - are swept up in the youths' desperation.

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Plot Keywords:

hotel | courier | student | boy | messenger | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violence and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Pyramide [France] (French) sonyclassics.com [United States]

Country:

France Taiwan China

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

25 April 2001 (France)

Also Known As:

Beijing Bicycle

Filming Locations:

Beijing, China

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,883, 27 January 2002, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$158,779

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pyramide Productions, Arc Light Films, Public Television Service Foundation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

User Reviews

incredibly frustrating

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.