From the outset, Jia established himself as a filmmaker directly facing China's period of transition, foregrounding here the Hong Kong handover to depict a society caught between the twin poles of police-state social control and equally dehumanizing capitalism. Xiao Wu is a pickpocket whose former comrades have all gone straight, making amusing ties between the world of street crime and respectable capitalism. Yet any romanticism that could be applied to the man is lost in his complete social dissociation, leaving him to roam lost around Fenyang and hold one-sided conversations with others where he remains almost entirely silent, unsure what to say and willing to seem rude rather than stupid. The sound design on this is bewilderingly great, resembling the…

My fifth film by Jia Zhangke and surprisingly the one I liked the most. The natural settings were captured beautifuly. And the acting by the non-professional actors made it even better. Like the italian masters of neo-realism, Jia Zhangke managed to bring the most out of his actors and everyting feels as fluent as in real life. No excessive drama, no forced motions, it is simply natural.

Now, Xiao Wu is a man that does not know what to do with his life. He used to have his gang of pickpockets but now they have moved on. There is more to life than small crimes. Xiao Wu has not moved on, he is still stuck in that life. And most…

Jia Zhangke's first film is one of his more conventional, but like last year's A Touch of Sin, Jia in genre mode is still more Jia than genre. Sure, the narrative is slow and oblique, but the main character is a recognizable generic type, a young man of questionable morals (he's a pickpocket) alienated in turn from old friends, a romantic interest and family (he also looks like young Woody Allen and acts like young Robert DeNiro). A politically potent depiction of a rapidly changing society, trapped in the contradiction between state terror and laissez-faire capitalism to be sure. But more than that it's about being a self-centered, kind of dumb, young person in caught in a world you never…

"Why is my sky always so grey?"

One of those movies that I know is well-made, yet is one that I personally felt like I was unable to fully access. I figured that watching the directorial debut of Jia Zhangke would make the most sense for my first time exposure to his work. I can at the very least say that he has a defined style right out the gate. Based on the title alone as well as the focus on a relationship between a man and a woman, comparisons between this and Robert Bresson's 1959 feature are going to be unavoidable. While I think Bresson still managed to keep things in a proper enough focus within a more free-form…

What an incredible film.

In his first feature, Chinese director Jia Zhangke crafts an intelligent and intimate study of character and society.

Wang Hongwei leads a cast of non-professional actors as an aimless pickpocket, Xiao Wu, who, unlike his friends, hasn't grown up and stuck to his criminal ways while they have all moved on and tried to become legit businessmen. Against the grain of the sweeping changes in society towards lawlessness and economic responsibility, Xiao Wu continues to steal and drift around life, all the while becoming enamoured with a kind-hearted prostitute played by Hao Hongjian. He continues in his downward spiral until life eventually catches up with him.

The film is just so well crafted. There is something…

Thought about this for a few days. Jia Zhangke's debut was surprisingly mature, if not a little meandering in terms of direction. XIao Wu is a pickpocket who finds that his friends have moved on in life, while he is stuck in his own fantasies. He wanders around aimlessly to find companionship, but even that is short lived. The last straw is when he gets into trouble and finds himself all alone in the face of the law.

I've noticed a habit of Zhangke to use supplement his films with songs. In his debut, it's all the more apparent. The songs themselves don't add much thematically, but it's nice to jive along to.

Most of Zhangke's films deal with the…

im a complete retard so i downloaded this to watch a couple days before i realised i had accidentally asked my friend to get tickets to see this so there i was on saturday all grumpy that i had to watch this shit AGAIN. (typing this this on sunday).

i hate slow-burn films and i hated this a lot, i saw no point to the entire film apart from some mild political commentary that could've been delivered in a much more succinct and entertaining manner. basically nothing happens in this film except the titular character smokes 16 cigarettes (i counted, though i might have missed some since i almost fell asleep a few times) and shows us his penis.

i…

Eine Filmkritik zu Xiao Wu, Pickpocket oder Artisan Pickpocket.

Eigentlich möchte ich zu diesem Film gar keine Kritik schreiben. Aus Angst davor dem Unbekannten und dem Persönlichen gleichermaßen nicht gerecht zu werden.
Das Unbekannte ist ein weit entferntes Land, dessen Menschen ich nur aus Filmen kenne, von denen ich bisher nicht mehr als eine Handvoll in meinem Leben gesehen habe.
Persönlich sind meine Gefühle, die ich in einer fremden Stadt finde, in der sich Xiao Wu ebenso zuhause, wie fremd und einsam fühlt.
Der Regisseur führt mich durch seine Geburtsstadt, wie jemand der den Weg kennt und mir die Menschen zeigt, aber selbst immer Beobachter bleibt. Fenyang ist die erste chinesische Stadt, die ich in meinem Leben besucht habe.
Xiao…