Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
49
2012
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
70
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
52
Blind Side
47
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
23
Couples Retreat
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
41
G-Force
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
28
Pandorum
58
Pirate Radio
39
Planet 51
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
46
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum
56
Adam
39
Adventures of Power
66
Afterschool
73
Amreeka
49
Antichrist
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The
71
Big Fan
65
Black Dynamite
76
Bliss
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star
76
Broken Embraces
70
Bronson
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
60
Collapse
82
Cove, The
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The
53
Dare
50
Defamation
67
Departures
70
Earth Days
85
Education, An
55
Endgame
88
Fantastic Mr. Fox
31
Fix
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
xx
From Mexico with Love
28
Gentlemen Broncos
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Horse Boy, The
74
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
26
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
43
Little Traitor, The
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
46
Love Hurts
84
Maid, The
45
Mammoth
75
Messenger, The
55
Missing Person, The
59
More Than a Game
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
48
New York, I Love You
66
No Impact Man
26
Oh My God
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Red Cliff
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
65
Skin
41
Splinterheads
42
Staten Island
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
58
Storm
82
Sun, The
49
Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73
That Evening Sun
61
Trucker
49
Turning Green
83
U2 3D
45
Uncertainty
67
Visual Acoustics
32
War on Kids
67
Way We Get By, The
65
Wedding Song, The
xx
White on Rice
59
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74
Woman in Berlin, A
43
Women in Trouble
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Beijing Bicycle
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 20 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 25 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Foreign
Written by:
Wang Xiaoshuai
Peggy Chiao
Tang Danian
Hsu Hsiao-ming
Directed by: Wang Xiaoshuai
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 25, 2002
DVD: July 9, 2002
Running Time: 113 minutes, Color
Origin: China / Taiwan / France
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for some violence and brief nudity
Starring Cui Lin, Li Bin, Zhou Xun, and Gao Yuanyuan
The story of two teenagers who endeavor to share a highly valued bicycle after a dispute over its ownership.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
With this masterful, flawless film, Xiaoshuai emerges in the front ranks of China's now numerous, world-renowned filmmakers.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
An absorbing slice of the New China and a fascinating duel between two magnificently stubborn antagonists.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Even without its bleak and affecting story, Beijing Bicycle would work beautifully as a travelogue alone.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
At once somber and mysterious, comical and sad. It shows just how lonely a crowded city can be.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Wang's young actors are impressively natural, and his documentary-style camerawork captures the rhythms and cacophony of the big city, all its crazy-quilt comings and goings.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
At times, the film meanders from its course and loses dramatic focus. But it's vividly acted and creatively directed.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
The movie is filled with sweetly funny moments, but its exposure of class, income and cultural differences makes it an uneasy charmer right up to its violent denouement.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Beijing Bicycle is a good film that owes a huge debt to a better film. And that, of course, is Vittorio De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief."
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo
Shot in the mean streets of a great and compelling city, here's a fascinating vision of societal upheaval that would likely awe De Sica himself.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Marta Barber
Though beautiful at times, it doesn't reach the level of poetry of either de Sica's "Thief" or Lou's "River."
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Beautifully filmed and very atmospheric in terms of evoking the sights and sounds of modern-day Beijing, this Chinese movie suffers a flat tire about halfway through.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ernest Hardy
Had Xiaoshuai trusted audience sympathies to stay with a slightly more forceful character, he'd likely have crafted the heart tugger that the film aims to be.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Wang's film offers an interesting look at the rapidly changing face of Beijing.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Rich Cline
There's a natural authenticity to the film that makes it intensely watchable, even though it's repetitive and slightly underwritten.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Chris Fujiwara
Hard, gleaming images and an oblique storytelling style come to Wang the way the bike comes to Jian -- secondhand.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Wang mistakes affectless storytelling and character conception for rigor, and as a result huge portions of Beijing Bicycle are dull and repetitive.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Charlie C. gave it a0:
Lordy, lordy..... it was like watching a really bad soap opera. In all movies the viewer is required at some point to simply "believe" and enjoy. A this clunker progressed there was less and less to believe. Bad beyond bad. Watch it only if you think you are going to live forever and therefore feel you can afford to waste over 90 minutes of your time on earth.
Michael gave it a9:
First, this is a film, not a movie. Second, it is very well done and provides far more than worthy entertainment, it is informative, intelligent and thought provoking. Third, for me, it helps me get closer to my home away from home. I spend 3 to 4 months each year in Beijing for business over the course of about 4 trips. I have done so for several years. This is by far my favorite film about Chinese life in the major cities. However, it does require intelligence to understand the film. It also requires experience in China to recognize some subtleties. My only dissappointment is that I wish it had developed more the story of class difference - I think it missd some great opportunities that would have provided real insight for westerners who are interested in China as it goes through its current transition into capitalism, but have not had real opportunity to examine it either on location or other means. As a story in itself, it is clealy influenced by other films, but quite frankly, every movie I have ever seen is influenced by something that preceded it. This is a wonderful film.
amy gave it an8:
I grew up in Beijing and now studying in Europe.This movie game me a heavy feeling about the "agricultural workers" in my city.I am familar with many of the scenes and living environment charicterized in this movie.I helped understand what shaped part of my personality. I appreciate this movie,however,it is a little too realistic and critical that it doesn'T give people hope,but it does make me think. I think the unequal income distribution in China should draw the governance attention. Comforting enough,the chinese goverment has already carried out various policies in favour of the people from lower class, including these people from countryside who are seeking opportunities in big cities. I believe the move was filmed at least 5 years ago, and the things are slowly improving. I also thought that, education is the key to the development of either a indivitual or a nation. If only had the boys had some common legal knowlege, they wouldn"t have chosen the extrem way of dealing with conflicts. This movie is valuabe.
Rey De L. gave it a 10:
I think this is a really great foreign movie i would recommend it to anybody that likes the chinese culture.
Christophe H. gave it a 9:
Le vélo outil de travail, faut il en etre propriétaire... Ce film montre le capitallisme arrivant en Chine...
Josh gave it a 10:
I agree this movie has an unspoken depth that American movies rarely get to. Having spent 4 years of my life in the orient I can say that it gives me a better appreciation for the culture. The struggle is the same world over, it's just how it's communicated that makes this such a special movie. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
Ark gave it a 3:
This movie simply didn't go anywhere. It was down-to-Earth, and interesting to start, but the characters were frustrating and didn't develop. In fact, they kind of spiralled downwards to the unsatisfying conclusion. I wasted my time with this movie.
