Customer Reviews

Beijing Bicycle

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Beijing Bicycle is the Chinese version of the Italian film Bicycle Thief, and with this in mind the audience should not be disappointed. The story is about two teenagers who live in Beijing.  One of the teenagers has just arrived from the countryside and the other has lived in the city his whole life.  A social economic message is delivered through these two teenagers, an owner and a thief of a mountain bike, and is intertwined with adolescent obstructions of coming to age. Overall, this is a solid film experience.

This film is amazing ...

Panaramic shots of hundreds of bicycles parked in Beijing.

Shots of brand new *huge* high rise apartment buildings.
Much larger than anything you've ever seen in the US.
Amazing.

Bicycle chase sceens in the old streets of Beijing.

Oh, so the sceenery is so beautiful.

It's a pleasure to see something
different from the cookie cutter world we know in the US.
No Starbucks, McDonalds, or Walmarts.

...

One thing I really enjoyed was the director's use of
symbolism. There's a clip where every time a certain
young woman walks by you hear her clop-clop high heals.
I can't say too much with out giving away some of the
fun but it is really suprising how such a subtle
effect can turn out to be so powerful!

The casting was great. The acting was so good that a
during the beginning of the film I thought I was
watching a documentary.

Anyone whose spent a period of his life where $10 is a lot
of money can relate to the events and charactors in the film.

The story is about the incredible struggle for
human dignity in the face of inhumanizing poverty.

I loved it!

until you see this movie. I mean the viewer practically squirms in their setas as they see the main character with dogged determination declare and demand ownership over a bicycle that he had paid for little by little as a messenger in downrown Beijing ....

It's not your usual movie fare and any reveiwer that says they've been to this bustling city that wakens slowly every morning and could not idently with our main characters plight, don't know what they are talking about ....

It's a wonderfull and thought provoking film of dogged determination ... something we see so little of today!

I identified strongly with the struggle of the two teenagers, which took the concrete form of fighting over the bicycle. There was one scene in which the middle class boy and his gang struggled to wrest the bicycle from the peasant boy's grip, but after hours of struggle, they were unable to. Somehow it was understood that they would not kill the boy and so the peasant boy hung on to it by sheer grit and determination, which as portrayed seemed almost superhuman.

Somehow, knowing the Chinese (communist) mentality to a degree, I knew there had to be a strong underlying message, and sure enough, it came through to me that was this---- that peasant strength was more than equal to the more effete efforts of the middle class, the bourgeoisie. The message went beyond the ideological, but was also strongly socio-economic and psychological; the peasant boy's motivation for advancement, opportunity and freedom from poverty, was stronger than the middle class boy's motivation, merely to have a bicycle with which to impress his girlfriend and keep up with his peers.

The middle class boy was shown to be a liar and a thief, disrespectful of his hardworking father. His rage was somehow understandable as his sibling, a younger sister, was seen as getting more advantage in schooling. The father promised the son a bicycle, but instead spent the money on a private school for the girl. That was a typical middle class family conflict, not as serious or severe as the peasant boy's drive to escape poverty. The bicycle was his key to financial independence, while for the middle class boy, he stole the bike and lied about it, a moral weakness which came from his 'easy' life and relative indulgence.

Another political message came through subliminally, that the middle class boy didn't deserve the bike because he was morally corrupt. It is as if being middle class automatically makes a person morally corrupt, and yet his rage was equal to that of the peasant boy, who felt cheated. robbed and denied a chance to escape poverty.

The peasant boy's morality was shown to be on a higher plane, as he finally consented to use the bike on alternate days. That was the compromise which came from the near-death battle in the streets, one peasant boy against a multitude of middle class boys. There seemed to be a peace and accord for a time, but toward the end, the middle class boy wanted the bike all to himself and fought almost to the death for it.

Finally the two boys were both bloody and beaten, the bicycle bent and broken, but the peasant boy limped back to work with the frame, as if to repair it and own it at all costs. It ended almost as if the message was that the human condition cannot be overcome, that there will be endless competition, struggle and suffering, as long as there are haves and have-nots.

I found the struggle emotionally gripping on many levels, the truths piercing and vital, so I cannot understand how it was that so many critics were unmoved.

this movie centers on the controversy over ownership of a bicycle
which both owners have paid for. Guei--a poor country boy had legitimately paid for the bike out of his earnings as a courier--and just as he makes the last payment--the bike is stolen by a person who's never revealed--who then sells the bike to a used bicycle store where Jian puchases the same bicycle with money stolen from his father. While Jian's claim seems phony--since he purchased stolen goods--he and his bully friends want to invalidate Guei's claim, by force if necessary. Eventually a compromise is reached--the bicycle will be shared with each having possession on alternate days--a very unfair compromise-due to Guei's authentic claim and purchase as well as the fact that he actually needs the bicycle for his job-while Jian merely wants the bike to cruise with his friends and impress a girl.
This movie may sound banal in description-but it's actually very well done and quite entertaining.
Some reviewers seem to want to impose their own perceptions of propaganda into this story--but anyone who's ever known the poverty of Guei will understand his commitment to finding and keeping his bicycle--it's as simple as that!
An excellent movie--probably fine for all ages--but there is a brief nude scene with Guei--for those who find such things offensive (no frontal nudity!) and there is some violence-though relatively mild by current standards
Subtitled in English
well worth purchasing

You can like it or hate it. But to say this film is not real life, that is simply ridiculous. I am a Chinese in my 30's and this story reminds me of my life more than 10 years ago.

This is the story of Rural meets City in the city of Beijing. The action centers on two young men who hold different items to be precious - in the case of the 'Rural Lad' - the bicycle is held in esteem so he can earn a better standard of living.
in the case of the 'City Lad' the bicycle is the symbol of 'prosperity' by which he can 'court' a young lady.
The desire of these 2 youths to control the bicycle (which the 'rural lad' is attempting to purchase on a work/purchase basis) is played out for the audience with both of the boys reaching a compromise to share the bike.
The events of the video takes one through the streets of Beijing and depicts, rather reasonably, the events of modern Beijing.

This film was about a boy from the country coming to the city and landing a really good job as a bicycle messenger. He gets a really cool bike to use and finds out they will take money out of his earnings to pay the bike off and make it his. This bike symbolizes so much to this youth, it is his ticket out, his chance to make something of himself. The bike is a status symbol, not just to him, but to all kids his age, therefore making it valuable and worth taking. Thats exactly what happens, the bike gets stolen. Because the owner marked it with a personalized scratch, he feels he can find it somehow in this large city of bikes. His boss doubts him and fires him with the promise that he will hire him back if he finds it, this is done in a real sarcastic way without any compassion. The story continues on with his search, retrieval, combative takeover and negotiation, all in that order. It sounds somewhat boring but the emotional scenes add a punch to this movie. There is not alot of needless dialog and we experience the film more with the visual images and the good acting of the two main characters, both boys. I really liked this film. I would like to go to this city and experience it fully. The rhythm of the film moves along just like a bike moving down a meandering road. Worthwhile viewing.

Lisa Nary

I just watched this movie last week. I am from China. I am not from Beijing though. What I like about this movie is, it really is so true in terms of the high school students' after school life. I felt I was among those teenger boys and girls while I was watching this movie. It is the first Chinese movie I saw that doesn't make students look the same. More than 10 years ago, when I was in China, all the Chinese movies would make all boys and girls appear in the movie standard good students, they don't fight, they always listens to adults and teachers, they help other kids, etc. Those kids appears in movie were good examples and standars for all Chinese students who watch movies. But they were good examples only, they were so phony, so unreal. Thus, when I was watching this movie, I did not echo with the country boy, but I had strong recognization with the city kids. I know Chinese high school kids just like that. Pretty girls were popular among boys and boys also fight for their girlfriends. They want to look cool and act cool too. They admire all western lifestyles. For example, the bycicle in this movie is not ordinary bycicle that Chinese people ususally ride. It is a mountain bike. So I assume it is at least more than $150 US dollars, maybe more, because some of my US coworkers do mountain biking, their bikes are very expensive, like more than $600. So the teenager boy got this mountain bike and want to have fun with his friends and also act cool in front of his girlfriend. Since the bike is not a cheap oridinary bike, therefore, both boys must fight for it. The country boy need it for his job. The city boy needed for a sense of pride and also fun because all his friends has one. Therefore, the fighting started and kept going all the way to the end. All these are very watchful. There are a few sense I don't like. First, the country boy shares the tooth brush with his friend(or uncle?). This is so disgusting. I have never heard people do that in China, not even in poor countryside. They rather not brush teeth than share the brush. This is very misleading. Second, I don't understand the role of the maid. Why is she in the movie? Just to show how the country people have their fun by watching a pretty young girl? I think this is to make fun of country people. In China right now, the city people(especially the big city like Beijing and Shanghai) look down on country side people. Therefore, in the movies, they make fun of country people even though they also show their sympathy towards them.
Overall, I like to watch it. I think it is better than other Chinese movies I have seen such as Happy Times, Not one less. This movie got a good plot and those boys in the movie does not look like they are acting. They are like ture people especially the high school students look so true and familiar to me. And apparently, China does not produce movies that show this side of high school life. This is the only movie I have seen. In USA, there are many movies show the true side of teenager life. China lack this kind of movies. I think parents need to watch this kind of movie to understand what their kids really think. Usually kids don't want to tell their paretns their true thoughts. What they want, what they like, paretns don't understand and think if their kids don't object, they could ignore their kids' requests again and again. Like in this movie, the father promised to buy bike for his son, but he did not keep his promise and that hurt his son very bad. But Chinese paretns usually don't know, and they should be educated too.

This is one movie where you just want to jump in and do something. My story is like some others I know; I kept seeing this movie on the shelf at the video store. I thought it looked ok but not interesting enough to spend money on. Thank god it finally came on TV and I think it was worth the wait. The movie is about a young man named Guei who is looking for work in Beijing. He's lucky and finds a delivery company and is happy about his new job. Guei is given a bike to complete his deliveries, after working for a while he will earn enough to buy the bike. After running into some trouble with a delivery and being extremely late picking up a package he returns to get his bike only to find out it was stolen. Guei then gets fired because the package was received late and now he has no bike. Guei is so determined that he asks his boss if he finds the bike could he have his job back. His boss is so impressed by this that he says yes.

Ok so maybe so far the story may not appeal that much but then another main character is bought in. Jian is a not so spoiled but very bratty school kid and somehow he ends up with a new bike that looks exactly like Guei's. In the movie everyone has a bike and they're very important. Jing's father is not bringing in enough money to get him a bike. His father believes in his son but just can't afford the bike so this kid is planning on doing anything to get a bike. Guei finally catches up with Jing and the two start a little war over the bike. The big problem is that Jing has a bunch of friends and Guei has none so you can imagine what happens every time Jing catches him.

Maybe some people will find this movie a bit funny I just couldn't. Guei played by Cui Lin has a presence and face that really makes you feel his pain. To some the movie may sound crazy but this guy did nothing wrong and ends up in a series of truly unfortunate events. He needs the bike to get money to live and the punk kid wants a bike to impress girls and ride around with his friends. Honestly the real genius lies in these characters, what some people may hate I believe are great performances by Cui Lin. He is a powerful character and looks and acts very realistic, trust me you'll feel him.

I did find the movie very frustrating at times cause the repetitive beatings got on my nerves. Also I think the director messed up by focusing a greater majority of time on Jing's life when Guei's could've developed and become and really become the sole of the story and not the bike itself. Guei is the more powerful actor and character. Overall this was a decent film that could've been better. The dialogue was not so good, when you expect or really want someone to speak nothing happens and your left with too many minutes of silence. There are a few unexpected things that come and a little bit of comedy. Once again that acting made this movie what it is and Cui Lin one great actor. Would I watch this movie again? Maybe not for a while but it is definitely worth at least one watch.