User reviews

While watching this movie I couldn't help but be reminded of The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette). This is a story of determination of two young men. One works hard for a bicycle courier and on the day he would have earned the bike, it is stolen. The other steals money from his family and buys a bike so that he can impress a girl. Yes, it's the same bike. Amazingly, Guo is able to find his stolen bike, but that isn't the end of his troubles. I couldn't help but feel for all the crap he has to put up with, especially since all he wanted was to be a hard worker. Yet, like us all, life threw him a curveball and he does everything in his power to deal with the situation. *** (Out of 4)

A bit irritating at times and certainly not a regular fare even for those used to Asian movies. The story revolves around ideas of going up the social ladder... about how material goods can change your status, and what can happen due to greed.

The main character a peasant from the countryside finds himself in the "wild" urban enviroment and all its impersonal aggresiveness. The big city is unforgiving. The way the main characters tend to react to otherwise incredibly hard situations with silence sure is different from western standards.

Overall a beautiful movie with some very good scenes... still slow at times and could have been better 7 in 10.

"Beijing Bicycle" the interesting Chinese film directed by Xiaoshuai Wang, has been compared with Vittorio DeSica's masterpiece of the Italian cinema, "Bicycle Thief". In fact, we suspect this director is telling a story that seems to mirror the other film, but it's Chinese to the core.

Young Guo, who has arrived in Beijing from a rural area, is hired as a messenger for an agency that delivers important packages and mail throughout the city. Part of the deal is a shiny new bicycle that will be paid by the new hires after being in the job for a while. The bicycle for Guo means the improvement of his lot in life, as well as freedom to go everywhere and be his own master.

Jian, on the other hand, is a student that is seen hanging out with a rough bunch of school mates. Jian is excelling academically, but in order to fit, he must have a bicycle. The film doesn't make clear if Jian himself steals the bicycle, or as he claims, he bought it at the second hand market, with the money he stole from his father, which seems to be the case. He views the bicycle as a sign of status and of belonging; a means to have been accepted by his peers.

Young Guo shows a stubbornness that seems to be a trait with people from the area where he comes from. Instead of accepting the fact that his bicycle has been stolen, he decides to investigate on his own, something that must be a super human task given the millions of bicycles one sees in that city, and a mode of transport for the masses. One can't follow Guo's logic in not going to the police, or when he realizes who has stolen his bicycle, he never challenges the thief. In fact, Jian and his friends show a cruelty for the newly arrived country bumpkin that is scary. In fact, Jian shows a stubbornness himself that is unusual for a city boy that should have known better and who should have realized the plight of Guo.

"Beijing Bicycle" shows a side of city living in a city that is crowded and can be cruel to anyone trying to make a life in a decent way. We watch at the end a defeated Guo walking with his mangled bicycle on his way back home, perhaps.

The film will not disappoint, in spite of some repetitious sequences thanks to the strength of the two principals and the direction by Xiaoshuai Wang.

Browsing through some of the previous comments, it seems many viewers take the movie primarily as an allegory of class clash in Beijing. While the movie does state the contrast with emphasis, it's much more interesting as a story about teens. The title translates literally to "seventeen years' bicycle."

The story is just that. Guo is a young man who earned a bicycle and promptly has it stolen. Through luck and perseverance, he finds it in the possession of Jian, a high school student. Trouble ensues.

I grew up in Taiwan, and I remember kids doing incredibly cruel things to each other. Not so much gunning down classmates but there were plenty of physical and emotional violence. This movie is a powerhouse of insight into the psyche of teenagers. Contemporary Hollywood pumps out teenage movies by the dozen each year, and most simply gloss over the amount of pain and awkwardness adolescence can bring. Beijing Bicycle, on the other hand, can serve as an instructional manual for any high-school bully wannabes on how to reduce the stammering geek next door to a shell of a man.

It's therefore understandable that the movie can be very difficult to watch at moments. Guo suffers humiliation after humiliation, and at times I wondered in frustration what it would take to get him to swing back (the ending provides some answer to that, I think). There is some humor in the movie, and Guo does have the resources to prevail occasionally. If you can stand two main characters respectively passive and oblivious, the story is an incredibly touching one about being young.

the movies plot is a bit hard to follow - i think the script is mediocre and too brief. there are some rather ridiculous parts: Jian knows that the bike is Guo's but keeps stealing it?! plenty of swearing mind you, and though the ending is a bit touching, it happens too suddenly. This movie can be funny and ridiculous at times and will make you laugh (because the characters are a bit dumb, really).

The girl they consider 'hot' isn't so, in fact shes just a maid dressed up in her mistresses so called posh clothes. Shes just doing this to save face.

Anyway, it was OK overall but not my cup of tea. For Sure.

When you read a synopsis of Beijing Bicycle, it may remind you of Vittorio de Sica's 1948 masterpiece The Bicycle Thieves. A poor man, having recently come to the city from the country, wins a job at a bicycle courier business, and, on a delivery, gets his bike stolen. He then proceeds to search the city of Beijing to retrieve it. Luckily, it quickly veers away from being a simple update of that classic story. He finds the alleged thief, a high school kid, and steals it back. For the first hour or more, the bike moves back and forth between them. The two characters are compared and contrasted, and it works as an effective class study.

The direction and editing are particularly great in the film. The climax involves two intersecting chases, and it is one of the best stages sequences I've ever seen. There are a couple of problems, small ones for me, but perhaps big ones for critics and audiences. The high school kid is extraordinarily unlikable. A person behind me declared loudly, "What a brat!" And he is. I personally don't mind if a character is unsympathetic (although we are asked to sympathize with him, I believe). My own biggest problem is that the ending is slightly unsatisfactory. There's not much closure. Still, Beijing Bicycle is an excellent film. 9/10.

Having never seen the original Italian movie The Bicycle Thief on which this film is based, I am unsure of how to compare the two, but Beijing Bicycle, remake or not, is very good. Camera-work and images so gorgeous that almost every individual frame is worth hanging on a wall, this movie captures you with its beautiful visual style and exceptional pace. The music adds to the overall beauty of this movie and the acting, though amateur, is nearly flawless. The story of a triangle of thievery and survival is the motif played with here, as a youth confronted with frustration with his own father seeks out a bicycle of his own. The cinematographer plays with his beautiful atmosphere of Beijing to express the characters' emotions and frustrations in a very realistic sense and very often either slight ambient noise or the brilliant original score is heard in the background. A movie that is just as much felt as it is seen, it's a good choice, but I can't speak for fans of the original. Recommended.

Beijing Bicycle is certainly a layered movie that can be read at many levels. It ostensibly deals with a delicate and difficult subject that China confronts in its frenzied project of modernization: the floating population who lives on the edge of the city, the marginalized group that can no longer be glossed over in the grand narrative of urbanization. This floating population is the abjection, the cluster that can not be assimilated, the group being ruthlessly cast away but stubbornly clings on, and protests in silence; it is a disoriented group, usually incompatible to the ever-changing landscape of metropolitans; their voice is constantly being submerged in the hubbub of the sleepless cities. Indeed, the floating population is aphemic. What strikes me, frustrates me and saddens me is Gui's inability to communicate, to speak out, and to articulate for himself. (This is a little far off, but I was reminded of the similar frustration I had as a little girl when reading 'the little mermaid': if the mermaid has not given her voice away to the witch, she could tell the prince that it was she who saved him and wins his love.) Similar to the little mermaid, Gui could not speak up when he was wronged and abused. For instance, all Gui could convey to get his bicycle back is either his obstinate silence or his repeated sentence: "zhe che ben lai jiu shi wo de" (the bicycle is originally mine). His desperate, strident and continuous cry when being forced with violence by Jian's gang to let go off his bicycle is simply heart-breaking. Who is to blame for Gui's aphasia? Is it class division? Is it his own dislocation? Or is it the indifference of the city with its condescending atmosphere? The picture is definitely not black and white. The result of his aphasia, on the other hand, is more self-evident: at the end of the movie, Gui eventually turns to violence to break his silence… It is said that at least 60% of the crime that happens in Chinese cities comes from the floating population. They are suggested to be the root of the social problems. News reports constantly show how the innocent city folks are being hurt and robbed by those "the other" from the abjection, the floating population. Beijing Bicycle, however, attempts to approach this abjection, to speak up for those who do not speak for themselves, and allow us to sympathize with their plight.

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 "Ehhhhhhhhhggggggggggggggaaaaaaaaaaaaa", as I feel weight on my shoulders as I thumb the edge of this DVD's box.

This could be a regular TV movie, instead of an actual theater movie. It does not have any beautiful scenes. A tiny TV screen would be sufficient enough to show the drama.

Having said that, the story is not logical. Those several high school students did not have any problems of beating the country boy several times without any interference of the police officers or adults. Beijing is a big busy city. How could they chase him on the bicycles without bumping into any cars, pedestrians, etc? And especially the last beating, they just magically showed up in a sort of abandoned skyscraper. I don't think that the country boy would be willing to ride with them all together into that desolate place.

China has made quite a few youth oriented movies about modern teenagers' life. I am surprised that this one has gained so many attentions world wide. Overall, it is a sweet movie to watch.

Impossible not to have some Italian classic film while watching this movie as it used again the theme of the stolen bicycle. The eponymous bicycle is here coveted by two teenagers as a means to get their places in society. One needs to earn his living, the other one needs it to get social recognition at school. The bike gets therefore a significant metaphorical meaning in both cases, and it becomes a matter of life. They both struggle to keep it and their despair succeeds in moving the viewer. A beautiful film which outrages us through the depiction of unfair situations and that's the film's greatest strength.

I found this film to be rather enjoyable - like a book that does not contain any gripping plot, but cannot be put down nonetheless. Gui, in his unwavering honesty and determination, clings to his bicycle as his undying sense of being. Jian - forced down the road of no return for his dishonest and infatuation for Qin.

Straying from any typical movie with a storyline leading to a happy ending - the sense of despair for Gui becomes greater as the story unfolds. This is not to say the film does not have a happy ending (those who have not seen it will need to watch for themselves).

Worth watching...

This film irritated me with its extreme slowness, and the dumbness and wimpyness of the lead character. Even for a drama, it was worth only about 30 minutes of film, but was extended to movie length for "artistic" effect, or whatever. Mostly whatever.

Long, long blank looks at each other, almost no dialogue and what was there was so basic and simple, very slow camera panning to kill time....everything in it was at "walking underwater speed" and it just dragged and dragged. Too many very similar scenes that went on and on told me the filmmaker was padding, and not expressing his "artistry". Mainland China is way behind the west in film-making...about 50 years behind, as this film appeared to be post-WWII, not the early 21st century. Won't get much western audience, that's for sure.

Really tested my patience but I stuck it out to the mostly unrewarding end that we knew was coming.(He got his bike. Duhhh.) Very simple type of story told much better many years ago in Italy's "Bicycle Thief". See that one instead.

Beijing Bicycle by Sixth Generation director Wang Xiaoshuai is an unsettling look at modern China in transition that depicts the relationship between two young men of different social status, both yearning for acceptance and stubbornly determined to succeed. Guei (Cui Lin) is an unexpressive working class 17-year old who has come to Beijing to find work, while Jian (Li Bin), is a sophisticated middle-class student, desperate to belong, seeking approval from his biker friends and his beautiful girlfriend Gin (Zhao Yiwel). The film explores the consequences when Guei's bicycle is stolen and ends up in Jian's hands. The bicycle represents an escape for both from the competitive pressures of their lives. For Guei, it is a means of access to a job, an income, and survival. For Jian, it is the pathway to being "cool" and being in the in-group, much like what the flashy sports car represents to young men in Western countries.

As the film opens, a group of boys are being interviewed for a job as a courier. Enticed by the prospect of owning a silver mountain bike, Guei takes the job and begins to save money to buy the bike, given to him as a loan (the bike is his once he has earned 700 yuan, which is about $85). Out of his element in the bewildering city, Guei runs into an awkward situation almost immediately when he makes a delivery in a luxury hotel and is directed to the gym where he is forced to strip for a shower before he can deliver his package. He is then asked to pay for the shower when he leaves but does not have enough money. When his bike is stolen just one day before he can become the owner, Guei's job is threatened.

Xie Jian as Guei's manager is both abrasive and compassionate and offers to take Guei back to work if he can find his bike. In a city where bicycles are still the most common means of transportation, against all odds he sets out to find it. The film is about the bicycle but is also about the city of Beijing. Guei's search for the bicycle takes him into all corners of the city. With an original score by Felix Wang and magnificent cinematography by Jie Liu, the city comes alive with streets littered with traffic juxtaposed with mysterious alleys where old men play board games or do Tai Chi. Wang adds the little touches as well such as two friends sharing a toothbrush and a single spigot of water in an alley serving an entire neighborhood.

Like De Sica's The Bicycle Thief, the stolen bicycle is central to the story, but here it is not about the hunt but about the consequences that follow from its recovery. When the student Jian is found with the bike, both he and Guei assert ownership and the bike is stolen and reclaimed by both boys several times, each time ending in a scuffle with Jian's friends. In a powerful confrontation with his father, Jian, in a rage against his father for reneging on his promise to buy him a bike, finally admits to stealing his father's money to purchase the bike himself at the flea market after it was fenced. The two boys are pitted against each other but mutual need brings them together and allows them to work out a compromise by alternating the days when each can use the bike. Eventually a serious confrontation takes place that escalates into a startling conclusion.

Beijing Bicycle is a deeply human odyssey that, while somewhat repetitive, never loses its rhythm. Though there is little dialogue and the characters communicate mostly with body language, long silences, and facial expressions, the actors perform their roles with astonishing authenticity. Parts of the film are emotionally upsetting, but there is also a sweet innocence at play. Jian acts like a typical adolescent-surly, angry with his parents, shy with girls, audacious and impetuous one minute, and then needy and contrite the next. In one of the concluding scenes, as a group of punks chase two boys through a an older section of Beijing; one says to the other, "What are you doing? This doesn't concern you." The other replies, "I don't know my way out." In today's new China, caught between the traditions of an ancient culture and the new urban reality, young people are having trouble finding their way out.

For anybody who has ever considered class differences or what it means to be poor or felt the injustices of modern economics. They should watch this movie to see how the reality of the situation actually is.

The movie paints a modern portrait of the emerging China, with sky scrapers and yuppie elite juxtaposed with the dirt poor country folks and the urban beggars trying to make ends meat in this city of contrasts.

This movie can work as a case study for modern China, as it contains many biting satirical scenes depicting the unfair economics and distribution of wealth in China, for example, how a simple bicycle - which are a dime a dozen in the west - is used as a down payment for the couriers and is then fought over by the two protagonists for the rest of the movie. However this movie also works on a purely entertaining level. I was moved by the actors and their plight, I was exhilarated by the bike rides through the city. I like the fact that the dialogue was kept to an absolute minimum, yet so much emotion was evident on the screen.

These are clear indications of classic movie making, and one that warrant repeated viewings. Overall, this is thought provoking and enriching cinema.

For a very simple perspective, this as an interesting story that shows the changing society in China and contrasts that urban and rural cultures. It is well done though may not be for everyone (not content but the plot).The cover discusses that this is a coming of age movie though I did not find much of the story having to do with that. Very good story but do not plan on what you would typically expect from a coming of age story.

I liked Beijing Bicycle...but, then again, I am a sucker for most foreign films, particularly Asian films ...but unlike most Chinese films....this one seemed to meander and I guess I kind of compared it to What Time is it Over There, though Taiwainese..but I saw that last week and really found that more cinematic, more interesting and involving. maybe it's a cultural thing, the level of patience, one could call it stubborness and the NY Times reviewer had compared the main character, the bike messenger to the young teacher in "Not One Less" who was also a paragon of determination and quite relentless in her efforts... much like the boy here attempting to recover and re-recover his bike.So, I'm glad I saw it but I feel that way about most foreign films I have seen....

actually , i saw it for sleeping on TV.

i thought this movie was good enough to be sleepy at first.

but i was wrong.

this movie made me late.

i didn't know that movie so touching.

its worth to watch over and over again

i gave 9 points.

I would not reccomend this movie for the impatient. It goes extremely slowly and frequently dwells on mundane scenes. But if you can take it, it is a pretty interesting story. As noted above, the plot goes through a series of unfair situations which are often pretty humorous and relatable. The main plot deals with materialism, jealousy, and righteous perseverence. At first I found the ending to be pointless and stupid, but if you think about it, it's really pretty optimistic. The acting is also top notch, although there are only a few scenes with heavy dialogue (again, it moves slow). Visually, it depicts Beijing quite well, with all its ramshackle residential areas and paradise-like hotels. An overall well done movie...that should've been half as long.

What a pleasant surprise! I ran to my local indy-plex in Cambridge, MA to see this film before it vaporizes, as most small foreign films still do, even in the Athens of America. It charmed and fascinated. The subject matter, adolescent males in an urban setting obsessed with bicycles, would not be something I would normally seek out. But, the best part of this movie for me was the experience of true, artful movie making, seemingly unincumbered by commercial nods to financial patrons. The cinematography is excellent. It places the viewer in many of the scenes in a very subtle way. The story is frustratingly universal. On the surface, it got me right back to the maddening frustrations of my own male adolescence, and the absurdity of it. I found much of it very funny. The storyteller's use of the bicycle owners as segments of the current Chinese demography after the invasion of capitalism from the West was very educational for me. I think, despite my relative ignorance of modern Chinese affairs, it is an allegory of modern China. In any case, the use of symbolism was both welcomed and refreshing. I wonder if this is the current Chinese equivalent of our "Dude, Where's My Car?"

In the new so called People's Republic of China, employers act like in the old times, which means firing the people out of no reason. Somebody's seem to have everything and many almost nothing. That's practical of course, combined with suppression of democracy. Like in the old times.

This is a good movie, there you in the beginning are quite clear of which guy is nice and which isn't. But that changes. Everything is certainly not in just black and white and the film ends in telling us that maybe all might be victims in the new China. It might be you the next time and the system counts on it.

Strong feelings here and an unexpected end.

No character development. Fa Dai Express guy was stubborn to the end, bicycle thief mostly unrepentant to the end. Movie ends in a bloody gang fight. Neither boy gets the girl. No personal growth in characters. Not an uplifting movie.

"Beijing Bicycle" has a superficial similarity to "The Bicycle Thief," a true classic, but it presents a darker and deeper story. Set in Beijing it tracks the efforts of a young man from the countryside to find his self-sufficient place in a bustling and rawly energetic city. For him, obtaining a position as a bicycle messenger for a company serving the commercial firms of the city seems to be a satisfactory end, not a beginning as it probably would be were this film set in a Western metropolis.

For a New Yorker, where bicycle messengers are simultaneously often hated and frequently and with good measure feared, the operation of the Beijing counterpart, with messengers uniformly attired and equipped with identical mountain bikes, is both strange and familiar.

Central to the film is the theft of the coveted bicycle one day before it would become the personal property of the messenger (the company's scheme allows employees to earn ownership after what appears to be a short period of service). The bike turns up in the hands of a post-high school youth, part of a loose gang of bicycle worshipers. Much of the story revolves around the subsequent relay race of seizures of the bike with attendant and escalating violence.

The intensity of the competition between two young men for the bike reflects its importance not only economically (bikes appear in huge numbers in wide shots of broad avenues and busy streets) but also personally. These young men probably don't even have nocturnal fantasies of car ownership.

A wary but real bond develops between the suitors for bike ownership and the violence that engulfs them is palpably real and painful to watch. There is no real resolution for either of them it seems.

"Beijing Bicycle" would have benefited from some judicious editing and the deletion of an extraneous secondary story line (or two) that detracts from the main tale. The score is very nice and the acting strong. This is not the Beijing of Tianamen Square or of the flourishing fast food outlets. It is, however, a Beijing that has a number of striking similarities to neighborhoods known to many of us. And in that lies the film's interest and attractiveness.

I saw the movie a couple of years ago, and than i thought it was good. But now that i own the DVD, and now that i found all the symbolism within it, i now appreciate the movie to another level. The fact that the movie revolves around a simple bike( symbolism of course) makes the movie so much better. The 2 main characters could have easily bought another bike, but it wasn't about the bike, it was something that each wanted to gain along with it. The big thing about this movie is that you need to study and watch for the symbolism in this movie to really appreciate the artistic aspect of it. Most Definitely one of the best movies i have ever seen. A must see for movie buffs, or even for people who just enjoy to stay in and watch a good flick!