Beijing Bicycle (2001)

Dream jobs can feature quite a lot in films. Normally, the character goes on a journey to get to that job, but ‘Beijing Bicycle’ is different. It starts with the character, Guei getting a great career – a bicycle courier. At first he enjoys his job in the city but things soon turn sour when a schoolboy steals his bike. He searches the city of Beijing to find it. The film starts off as light-hearted but turns very dark. Just as the characters cycle around narrow alleys and sharp corners, the film twists and turns and has plenty of surprises. The characters are interesting. Guei and the boy who steals his bike are both desperate people and have many sides to their personalities. I like this because it is realistic: in real life, people have good and bad, and this represented well in the film. However, it sometimes has too many twists and turns to keep the audience focused and you find yourself detached from the film. ‘Beijing Bicycle’ has good directing and use of sound. You really feel like you are whizzing along through the streets of Beijing. In all, in the good scenes, ‘Beijing Bicycle’ is very creative and interesting. When it’s not so good, it is odd and unwelcoming. ‘Beijing Bicycle’ is inconsistent but well worth a watch.