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In this social drama by noted Sixth Generation filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai, teenager Guei moves to Beijing from the countryside and finds work as a bicycle messenger. The bike he relies upon for his livelihood is stolen and winds up in the hands of Jian, a schoolboy who steals money to buy it secondhand so he can impress a girl. Wang uses their intersecting stories to dramatize emerging class divisions in China, creating a vivid portrait of a city in flux through a beautifully crafted tale of innocence lost. “Beijing Bicycle is at once somber and mysterious, comical and sad. It shows just how lonely a crowded city can be” (A.O. Scott, New York Times).
Dir.: Wang Xiaoshuai, China, 2001, 113 min., 35mm, Mandarin with English subtitles