Guei: Cui Lin	Jian: Li Bin
Qin: Zhou Xun	Xiao: Gao Yuanyuahn
Da Huan: Li Shuang	Father: Zhao Yiwel
Mother: Pang Yan	Director: Wang Xiaoshuai

30 Second Bottom Line: An adolescent Chinese peasant relocates to the urban congestion of Beijing and lands a job with a bicycle messenger service only to have the bicycle stolen.

Story Line: Fresh from the Chinese countryside, 17-year-old Guei is determined to make something of himself in the big city and tirelessly puts in grueling hours as a bicycle messenger to earn possession of his handsome mountain bike. His naiveté proves to be his undoing in this sharp commentary about Chinese society. Confused by something as routine as a revolving door, it is not surprising when Guei finds himself in a lavish Chinese spa mistakenly receiving a massage. These whimsical moments belie the film's serious message when Guei's very livelihood is threatened with the theft of his precious bicycle.

Enter Jian, a teenager whose values are undermined by peer pressure. A student at a private prep school, Jian's homelife seems in jarring contrast to his wealthier classmates. In an effort to impress them and one special girl, he steals money from his stepfather and buys Guei's bicycle at a flea market.

The paths of these very different teenagers cross when Guei-against all odds in this overpopulated city-finds his bicycle in Jian's possession and takes it back. Jian's gang of friends hunt down Guei . Despite brutal beatings, Guei's stubborn determination makes Jian's retrieval of the bicycle more complicated than he realized. Eventually, the unlikely duo reach an uneasy compromise and decide to share the bicycle.

This supposed happy ending is upended when Jian's romantic rival chases him through the streets with Guei caught up in the conflict. Jian, defeated in body and spirit, lies bloodied and Guei's bicycle, smashed during the brawl, is left unrideable. Guei, a survivor to the end, engulfs the film's closing shots. He is battered but not broken, his mangled bike hoisted on his back as he stoically makes his way through Beijing's congested thoroughfares.

Tell Me More About It: Echoing themes from Vittorio DeSica's 1949 Italian classic The Bicycle Thief, this poignant drama uses the bicycle as a symbol for status in Chinese society. For Guei, it represents a means to survive, to make a decent wage, to rise above his peasant upbringing. Jian's bicycle, however, is akin to an American male's preoccupation with a red convertible-cool bike equals cool friends and the girl. A more superficial need, to be sure, but a desire strong enough to fuel thievery in the rebellious Jian. Indeed the backgrounds of Jian and Guei may seem disparate, but their primal drive to possess the bicycle-for all that it represents to them-binds them like bickering brothers.

A quickly paced film, Beijing Bicycle benefits from cinematographer Liu Jie's experience as a veteran of numerous commercials and music videos. His telling shots of crowds of people, intermingled with traffic jams and countless bicycles, speak volumes about the impersonal flavor of Beijing. Blurred images of bicycle wheels open this compelling film and the memorable moment when Guei realizes the near futility of his search for his stolen bicycle is punctuated by shots of hundreds of bicycles overwhelming the frame.

This is a poetically photographed film that offers a glimpse at two young men vying for their place in Chinese society, with stubborn, dogged determination winning out over youthful arrogance. Well worth a look.

Cui Lin and Li Bin shared the "New Talent Award" for "Beijing Bicycle", their film debut

Director Wang Xiaoshuai: "The Days", "So Close to Paradise"