Beijing Bicycle
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Movie Reviews of Beijing Bicycle
Movie Review: Let me introduce you to my little friend ... my Huffy!
Summary: 3 Stars
I remember my first bike. It was a Huffy. It didn't have a name and I believe my excitement for it only lasted one summer, but it did get me from point A to point B, and I will always remember it for those solid memories. What would be my actions if during that one summer of joy my illustrious bike were to be stolen? Would I bring about wrath and vengeance upon anyone that dared cross my path? Probably not, but it would have been fun to have an adventure like the two boys in this film.
To make it simple. Boy is trained to be a courier. Bike is given, but needs to be paid off. Bike is nearly paid for when it is stolen. Boy goes bonkers. Change story. New boy finds love with new (stolen) bike. He makes more friends. He is the rooster of the farm. Then, these two boys meet. Violence begets violence. Boy looses girl. Boy continues to loose job. Violence ensues. Cut to visionary ending about the life of a bike.
Was this a documentary?
"Beijing Bicycle" kept my attention, but left me utterly confused as to who to root for. For the first hour of the film, I found myself on the original boy's side, but somehow changed midstream, but then changed back, only to find myself apathetic towards the end. This is not the consistency that I like my oatmeal. A lumpy camera gave us a sympathetic eye towards both of our characters, leaving us with nobody to love or to hate. I needed a definition with this film. I wanted to root for one character and only one character. By giving me passion for both I didn't really have any emotion towards the ending, which could have been quite dramatic.
I loved the music.
I loved the cinematography.
I loved that it promoted smoking.
I loved the characters - individually, but I needed a defined bad guy and a defined good guy. Don't get me wrong, when Vader picks up the Emperor at the end of "Jedi", I felt sympathy for the bad guy - but think of what the film would have been like if the Emperor kissed Vader right before he fell. That is the emotion happening with "Beijing Bicycle".
Could I watch this film again? Absolutely, but I could not sit still. I would know what was going to happen with our characters, I would know what feelings I would have for both of them by the end, and I would still find myself apathetic to any of their causes. One is strong, while the other is weak. It was like black vs. gray instead of black vs. white. I would call this film a "Study of Cinema's Gray Zone".
I will suggest this film to friends and family as a one time viewing. It was a decent outing for a film about a bicycle, and would have no problems buying this DVD for my old Huffy that is still rotting away in the garage. I think he would like it.
What are my thoughts?
I give this film an as I feel weight on my shoulders as I thumb the edge of this DVD's box.
Movie Review: ah...
Summary: 3 Stars
The movie began tragic and ended, not an inch more so, tragic. Basically, it is two hours of bad things happening to good people, not through a series of mischance, but simply because their lives are terrible and there's no possible way to get around it. The film was downright depressing with nothing of a therapeutic or cathartic effect. I say that because the characters go through no emotional development, or physical development for that matter, so that at the closing of the movie, you feel as if nothing has happened. Also, none of the characters are really likeable, and you can hardly summon up enough feeling to call it compassion. [I should also note right now that all the characters are male, save two females we only see at the corners of the still story and the still camera-just hardly there, beautiful and unattainable.]
But unlike most movies I've been watching on my dear IFC (which has run out of real independent films and are resorting to old Jennifer Lopez movies), this one is memorable. I say this because I know I will remember the details of Beijing Bicycle at age 72, when I very well will have forgotten the names of my very own grandchildren.
Alright, I just read some reviews of this film, reviews by non-asiatic, non-thirdworld people, probably the same people who guffawed in the most un-funny (pardon, no SAT vocab seems to come to mind) parts of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, an altogether very un-funny movie. Ah, here's one: The story is about the incredible struggle for human dignity in the face of inhumanizing poverty. Mmm. Right. I would say that poverty is what makes us most human, and the comfy cushions we're living on right now make us damn near godly. An eminent critic awarded this film with the words "emotionally satisfying"-I interpret this as his way of saying it is excruciatingly painful to watch, being that pain can too be an emotion, and in that case, I can't disagree. Next: "there is no needless dialogue" meaning there is basically no dialogue-a few monologues here a few grunts there, all the while the camera never moves... sounding a bit like Zhang Yi Mou's work, no? But ha! It's not! The producer's name is actually Wang Xiao Shuai, which translates to Wang Little Hottie.
The acting is glorious, by the way.
Watching this film was analogous to watching The Passion, refreshing in a way that continually dangling your heart on a thinning string can be-which is definitely an experience worth having. so, if you see it in blockbuster, by all means, go for it.
Movie Review: Great start, but the follow through is weak
Summary: 3 Stars
"This is city folk. Not happy with a big house," says a character in Beijing Bicycle, spying an attractive female in an afar window. "Look, she's wearing another dress," he then says, 30 seconds later. "You know her?" his friend incredulously asks. "She comes for soy sauce all the time." "A city girl" (who sports 3 different outfits in under a minute and a half). " A big pile of clothes. So wasteful! Stop looking," say the shop-owner after his friend has taken his 3rd look). "It's not good for your health." Some days later, off camera we hear heels on the pavement as these two guys sit on the stoop of this guy's little shop. We see only her shoes (and skirt of her dress) until she reaches the shop, not seeing her head to toe until she is almost out of camera shot returning from whence she came, bottle of soy sauce in hand. It's just over an minute-long scene, but it's refreshingly free of any dialogue, and is marvelously effective; not to say intriguing. Hollywood's book of filmmaking presupposes that a director must hook his/her viewers by no later than 10-12 minutes into a film if it is to resonate with viewers---something this film does with the above mentioned scene at just under the aforementioned 12 minute mark. Then we follow this friend who can't imagine how some live so well, as he struggles in his job as a bicycle messenger...until he loses said bicycle, and thus his livelihood, which panics him. Here is where the film works especially well, too. Unlike in "The Bicycle Thief" (the famous Italian made film of some decades ago), we really feel for this hapless fellow & can understand how important a seemingly inconsequential bike really is to him. Life's struggle really is apparent in Beijing Bicycle, but the film pushes its luck so that by the end of the film we are glad we don't have to concern ourselves with thoughts of this guy's bicycle anymore. But the film is worthy of watching, nevertheless (especially to get a feel for the life led by many Chinese even now---I viewed this film and wrote this while in China myself, incidentially). Interestingly too, the attractive woman from above makes two more appearances in this film in proximity to these two guys, but says not a word to either; nor they to her. These scenes really bespeak the longing for a better life that the Chinese folks in this film struggle to make for themselves. If you want to learn something about present-day China, and watch a better than average film, to boot, than give Beijing Bicycle a try. Cheers!
Movie Review: China's next wave?
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a simple story of a country youth trying to survive in the new China with little more than determination and hard work. At the end of the film you get the impression that Director Wang Xiaoshaui's verdict is that this is not nearly enough in a fast changing modern China and I'm not sure that he's incorrect.
The film itself is enjoying although the style is derivative. The film has a quasi-documentary feel because of the lack of name actors recognizable to Western audience. The denouement is unsatififying and leaves me wanting more in terms of resolution, although I do not normally consider such de reguer in a movie.
In the end, one can view the film as a snapshot of the modern youths of China if so inclined, as the director may have intended it to be. But it lacks depth viewed in this context and the theme could have been developed with more subtlety and nuance. That said, I do look forward to Wang's next effort in the hope that he can find his own voice.
Movie Review: A very pleasing effort.
Summary: 3 Stars
This film is well worth your time if you enjoy a good indy flick. If not, stay as far from this movie as possible. You will probably kill yourself if you don't like slow films with little to no explosives.
Our plot surrounds the lives of two young boys. Living in China, the most practical mode of travel is by bicycle, and both boys, althought living in different societal environments, crave a good bike like American teens crave a good car. When one of the boys steals the other's bike, conflict quickly follows and we see the dire desperation fall on both the young men as they outwardly show an indomitable necessity to have ownership of the bicycle - something so trivial to most, but something that becomes the object of life and death for both of the boys.
I really enjoyed Beijing Bicycle. It is a clean film with subtitles that will probably intrigue viewers if they let it.