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100With this masterful, flawless film, Xiaoshuai emerges in the front ranks of China's now numerous, world-renowned filmmakers.
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83An absorbing slice of the New China and a fascinating duel between two magnificently stubborn antagonists.
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80Even without its bleak and affecting story, Beijing Bicycle would work beautifully as a travelogue alone.
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80At once somber and mysterious, comical and sad. It shows just how lonely a crowded city can be.
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75At times, the film meanders from its course and loses dramatic focus. But it's vividly acted and creatively directed.
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75The 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.
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75Wang'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.
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75Beijing 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."
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70Shot 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.
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63Though beautiful at times, it doesn't reach the level of poetry of either de Sica's "Thief" or Lou's "River."
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60Wang's film offers an interesting look at the rapidly changing face of Beijing.
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60There's a natural authenticity to the film that makes it intensely watchable, even though it's repetitive and slightly underwritten.
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60Had 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.
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60Beautifully 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.
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Moderately engaging tale.
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50Hard, gleaming images and an oblique storytelling style come to Wang the way the bike comes to Jian -- secondhand.
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50The film is often quietly humorous.
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50Too simple for its own good.
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40Wang mistakes affectless storytelling and character conception for rigor, and as a result huge portions of Beijing Bicycle are dull and repetitive.
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40Overplays its slim hand by a good two reels.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 16 out of 19
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Mixed: 0 out of 19
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Negative: 3 out of 19
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CharlieC.0
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Michael9