Xiao Wu on DVD

Cally Phillips from Galloway, Scotland , 23/06/2005

Chinese cinema is always different. This film shows that the angst, apathy and hopelessness of youth is the same anywhere. The particular flavour is firmly Chinese however. The shaky camera can be wearing but when you realise that these are all 'non' actors the film comes into its own and presents an interesting picture of modern Beijing struggling towards capitalism juxatposed against youth struggling to find meaning. It works.

  3 out of 4 people found this review helpful

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Nicole from London, England , 05/08/2005

Hired this out hoping to see a bit of china and chinese society but was dissappointed in how long and slow this movie was. We turned it off half way, possibly missing all the best bits because their certainly wasn't much of a storyline in the first 2 hrs. Looked as though it could have been filmed illegally in a cinema and the off key music sounded as though it was a record played too slowly on a broken machine.

  2 out of 3 people found this review helpful

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Cato , 09/05/2008

Jia Zhang Ke's directorial debut. He went on to direct 'Platform' and 'Unknown Pleasures'. It's a rather overlong study of a petty thief who eventually gets nabbed under the new Self Redemption Policy which has just been introduced by the government. Mostly played by non actors (and sometimes it shows in their self conscious performances), there are moments of pathos and charm, particularly in the love scenes between the main character and his call girl friend. In fact the protagonist is very coolly played by Wang Hong Wei, with his Buddy Holly glasses and his insouciant manner. A winning performance. Very good camera work with clever compositions.

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