A World Without Thieves (2004)

A con-team couple (Andy Lau & Rene Liu) head west after taking a city businessman for his BMW. But an encounter with a naive young carpenter travelling home with his life savings challenges their fate as thieves.

Director:

Xiaogang Feng

Writers:

Xiaogang Feng, Gang Wang

Stars:

Andy Lau, Rene Liu, Baoqiang Wang

9 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Andy Lau	...	Wang Bo
Rene Liu	...	Wang Li
You Ge	...	Uncle Bill
Baoqiang Wang	...	Sha Gen
Bingbing Li	...	Xiao Ye
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fusheng Chen
Wei Fan	...	Fat robber
Yuanzheng Feng	...	Thin robber
Biao Fu	...	General Manager Liu
Ka Tung Lam	...	Four-eyes
Lei Lee
Fan Xu	...	Mrs. Liu
Yong You	...	Thief Number Two
Hanyu Zhang	...	Public security Han
Yue Zhang

Storyline

Two grifters, Wang Bo and Wang Li, a couple who've been arguing, board a train in rural China. He wants to fleece a peasant, nicknamed Dumbo for his naiveté, who's carrying 60,000 yuan and trusts everyone. She wants to protect the hick kid, an act of expiation brought on by prayer and a visit to a temple. Also on board are one of more sets of thieves, including a calculating boss and his femme fatale. The boss wants to recruit Wang Bo, and a series of contests ensue, with the potential of turning deadly. While Li guards Dumbo from Bo and the others, can she and Bo sort out their relationship? And can Dumbo's simple spirituality touch anyone else?

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Plot Keywords:

boss | couple | train | prayer | temple | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

China Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

9 December 2004 (China)

Also Known As:

A World Without Thieves

Filming Locations:

China

Box Office

Budget:

CNY1,300,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$662,164

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Films, Huayi Brothers & Taihe Film Investment, Infotainment China

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

La Vie en Rose
Music by Louiguy
Lyrics by Édith Piaf
Performed by Lisa Ono

User Reviews

Beautiful film, highly recommended

World without Thieves (Tian Xia Wu Zei) is a film by director Feng Xiaogang. It involves a romantically involved pair of thieves. As the film begins they are extorting money from a rich man they have filmed trying to seduce the woman. Soon after this, the woman decides she has had enough of this kind of life and wants a normal existence. Her partner in crime, however, has no intention of quitting the business. She stops at a Buddhist temple to pray and there is befriended by a worker on the temple. The man, whose friends call him Dumbo, is returning home with his five years wages from working on the temple, 60, 000 RMB. Although his friends tell him to wire the money home and warn him about thieves he insists he is fine taking the money on the train with him and that they are too distrustful of people. In an attempt to prove to his friends that there are no thieves on the train, the young man has announces to the entire train that he has the money and that any thieves should show themselves. When they don't, Dumbo says, "see,there are no thieves here." On the train, he hooks up with the thieving couple, and the woman makes it her mission to try to protect the gullible young man from those who would steal the money, in particular from a gang of thieves on the train, and perhaps from her own partner. Like Bu Jian, Bu San, this film is not a light comedy, although it seems to start out as such. Instead, it is a serious and emotionally taxing film that can be alternatively thought provoking and hilarious, with the contrast between the gullibility of the young man and the sophistication of the world weary thieves providing the central moral focus Feng is a major Chinese writer/director. He traditionally releases movies around the Chinese New Year. A beautiful movie, highly recommended.