directed by Wang Xiaoshuai
starring Lin Cui and Bin Li
Obviously created with great awareness of Vittorio de Sica's The Bicycle Thieves, Wang Xiaoshuai's Beijing Bicycle attempts to tell a near identical story, but from two thieves' perspectives. It's something like a Ramin Bahrani film (especially Chop Shop), but with less nuance and more drama. In doing so he juxtaposes country and city life, and considers stealing out of necessity v. stealing out of want.
Unfortunately, neither is entirely well represented, as its protagonists (both 17) , a migrant worker from the country and a city boy from a working class Step family, are written as blunt extremes. Guo, moving from the country to become a delivery boy, is reserved, honest, and incredibly naive. Jian, on the other hand, is wholly unlikeable, as he almost always seems to make the stupidest decision possible, no matter the situation. That being said, the time spent with Guo is a lot more engaging than that with Jian, as we can at least feel for his mini-struggles and triumphs in the first 30 or 40 minutes (the best section of the film, not by coincidence). It's when Jian gets involved that the film becomes muddled and undeservedly cruel to its characters, an only partly believable excuse to comment on the bleakness of Guo's situation.
Despite these major scripting failures, the story is actually quite engaging, and Xiaoshuai's quietly observing camera captures the Beijing streets with great familiarity. de Sica's film is especially powerful because of its morally neutral illustration of its protagonist, and our emotional involvement with his situation through his relationship with his son--something Beijing might've been the better to consider.
4.5
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