neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Beijing Bicycle
	Wang Xiaoshuai Li Bin, Cui Lin, Zhou Xun 2001		A knotty, well conceived drama about two teenagers in Beijing and their battle over the same bicycle. Guei (Cui Lin) is a poor kid from a rural village. He comes to the city to find work and gets a job as a delivery boy, complete with a shiny new bicycle that he will buy in installments with the money that he earns on his daily rounds. As he's right on the verge of paying off the bike, it's stolen. Frantic, Guei searches for the source of his livelihood. If he doesn't recover the bicycle, he loses his job. By chance, he spots it in the possession of student Jian (Li Bin of "The Road Home"), who uses the bike to keep up with his cycling friends and to impress a girl (Zhou Xun of "The Emperor and the Assassin") from his school. The fight for ownership of the bicycle is the crux of the film, and it escalates with serious consequences for all concerned. It also presents a believable slice of Chinese daily life that will stick to the memory. Note: Director Wang Xiaoshuai is also an actor, who appeared with Samuel L. Jackson in "The Red Violin."