11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Coming of Age film!, August 7, 2002
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.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you really want something different see this film!, July 19, 2002
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!
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You've never seen stubborn or determined ...., April 28, 2004
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!
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