Matt Shea
RubySoho
Morgan Bell
Cibbuano
David O'Connell
Mountain Fog
Beijing Bicycle
January 21st 2009 00:08
It would be banned until 2004, meaning that the film served well abroad, depicting life in real China, as opposed to some of the more mainstream Chinese films... "Beijing Bicycle" is rooted deep in the traditions of Neorealism and is obviously influenced by De Sica's "Bicycle Thieves" and the rest of those groundbreaking Italian directors.
Where De Sica's film focused on one man, his bicycle and the theft of that bicycle, Wang approaches the matter from two ends: Guei, a country boy who has come to Beijing to work, finds a job as a bicycle courier, but then has the bike stolen. The stolen bike is sold at a 2nd hand market to Jian, a Beijing local that needs the bicycle to fit into his social group.
Wang's tactic is wildly successful... whereas neorealists would appear to champion the poor man in search of the bicycle, Wang understands that the same problems manifest in both social groups.
Whereas Guei needs the bicycle to keep his job and earn money, Jian sees the bicycle as a status symbol - he loses his girl to an older boy that has mastered stunt tricks on the cycle, and his identity in that group is fixed to the bicycle.
I can sympathize - in the part of Canada where I grew up, the city was so spread out that every family had a car, usually two. When you were a teenager, having a car was the only way to get out and about, and our social events revolved around driving. Picking up girls was only possible with a car, and the boys with the nicest cars always had girls to drive around.
The bicycle is even more important in Beijing, where Wang treats us to a flurry of images of the crowded bicycle lanes and tiny streets, closed off to vehicle traffic.
Does this still hold? I was in Beijing last month and the number of cars has increased so dramatically that the local government has issued some regulations to restrict the amount of traffic, which has threatened to choke the city's arteries.
Perhaps the images in "Beijing Bicycle" have expired... perhaps they show a city that no longer exists as Wang imagined.
Regardless, it's a film that threatened to shock Western audiences, as this is one of the few films that gives us a ground-level view of Beijing, and even Wang's camera seems to capture a Beijing that's startlingly free from crowds and traffic.
When it ends, it ends; nothing accomplished, nothing improved. Life goes on, and the flow of bicycles continue unimpeded.
I say: An excellent portrayal of the importance of the bicycle in Chinese culture, as well as the dynamics of different socioeconomic classes in Beijing. There's a class system, alright, and no one is happy in their place.
See it for: Zhou Xun has a small, but dastardly role as an elegant woman spied upon in a window.
*this image is from LoveHKFilm
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Comment by Quin Goot
Bagman's Gazette
Cinema Banana
Comment by MelGee
Having spent some time in Beijing myself three years ago, it will be interesting to compare my memories to this film. When I was there the traffic has hell - I still can't believe I made it out alive. Those cab drivers are crazy!!!! I saw count less people and bicycles hit by cars. There was no order, just chaos. Maybe now that cars are even more commonplace things are improving, but somehow, I doubt it. In my opinion, it's quite sad to think that bicyces are being replaced by cars as a status symbol.
Comment by MelGee
Having spent some time in Beijing myself three years ago, it will be interesting to compare my memories to this film. When I was there the traffic has hell - I still can't believe I made it out alive. Those cab drivers are crazy!!!! I saw count less people and bicycles hit by cars. There was no order, just chaos. Maybe now that cars are even more commonplace things are improving, but somehow, I doubt it. In my opinion, it's quite sad to think that bicyces are being replaced by cars as a status symbol.
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Mel - yeah, traffic in China is unnerving because you feel like cars have the right of way...