Beijing Bicycle
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Beijing Bicycle |
| Original title | 十七 岁 的 单车 Shíqī suì de dān chē |
| Country of production |
China Taiwan |
| original language | Standard Chinese |
| Publishing year | 2001 |
| length | 109 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Wang Xiaoshuai |
| script | Wang Xiaoshuai, Tang Danian , Peggy Chiao , Hsu Hsiao-Ming |
| production |
Peggy Chiao , Hsu Hsiao-Ming , Han Sanping |
| music | Wang Feng |
| camera | Liu Jie |
| cut | Liao Ching Song |
| occupation | |
| |
Beijing Bicycle ( Chinese 十七 岁 的 单车 , Pinyin shíqī suì de dān chē ), also known as Beijing Bicycle Thieves , is a 2001 Chinese film based on Vittorio de Sica's 1948 film Bicycle Thieves . The drama was directed by Wang Xiaoshuai , who also wrote the script with Tang Danian , Peggy Chiao and Hsu Hsiao-Ming . The main role is played by Cui Lin .
action
The penniless and uneducated 17-year-old farmer boy Guei comes from the Chinese hinterland with high hopes in the big city of Beijing in order to make a living. After doing a few odd jobs, he finds a well-paid job with a bicycle courier . He is given responsibility and given a modern mountain bike that he can pay off in the first few months. But shortly before the deadline, his bike was stolen. He loses his job, but is given permission to go back to work when he finds the bike. In great desperation, he searches for and finds the bike again using a label that he has filed in the frame. It is owned by a high school student who claims to have bought it at a market. After a tough argument between Guei and the high school student's circle of friends, they agree on sharing the bike.
Due to a dispute with the high school student, the bike was finally destroyed, Guei was left empty-handed.
background
In addition to many impressions from everyday life in China, the film also provides a glimpse of the Chinese understanding of law, which is difficult to understand from a European perspective. While a stolen object in European legal understanding always and completely belongs to the stolen person, regardless of what happens to it later, a Chinese acquires partial ownership of the thing with the correct purchase from an (unknown) thief. The buyer's responsibility for the legality of the purchase takes precedence over the rights of an owner.
Wang uses this problematic to give the viewer a glimpse of modern China, in which successful neo-capitalists and workers live close together, but culturally far apart.
Publications
The film was first presented on February 17, 2001 at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival and was shown at several film festivals in the following months , including the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival . On March 28, 2002 the film opened in German-speaking Switzerland and in German cinemas. In 2004 the DVD edition appeared in Germany .
reception
The critics received the film differently. On the one hand, it was criticized that Beijing Bicycle was making too big a drama out of a missing bicycle, on the other hand, the film was a fascinating look at modern China. Die Zeit wrote: “A dazzling tightrope walk over the fault lines of today's China.” The world said: “An example of all the cinematic brilliance that can be found in the independent Chinese cinema.” Der Spiegel stated: ““ Beijing Bicycle ”is one cinematic atmospheric snapshot of the youth in an Asian city. "
Awards
At the Berlinale , the film was represented in the competition for the Golden Bear , but was behind Patrice Chéreau's erotic drama Intimacy . Wang Xiaoshuai won the Silver Bear as the Grand Jury Prize , while Cui Lin and Li Bin were awarded the Young Talent Prize for their actors.
The film was nominated for Best Asian Film at the Singapore International Film Festival , but could not prevail against Shinji Aoyama's Eureka .
At the Satellite Awards ceremony in Los Angeles in 2002, Beijing Bicycle received a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film , but it was won by the Bosnian anti-war film No Man's Land .
Web links
- Beijing Bicycle in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Collection of film reviews metacritic.com (English)