Unknown Pleasures / Xiao Wu (Pickpocket)

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Film Description

Two films that take a long, hard look at contemporary China, its inequalities, direction and disaffected urban youth. Xiao Wu was the debut feature from Zhang-Ke, one of China's most talented young directors.

Film Information

DVD Extras

Jia Zhang-Ke Interview; Jia Zhang-Ke filmography; Production notes; Theatrical Trailer.

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Reviews & Articles

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Review by Howard Schumann on 22nd October 2003

A sense of longing permeates Xiao Wu, a 1997 film by the acclaimed independent Chinese director Jia Zhangke. Set in Jia's home city of Fengyang in Shanxi province, the film presents a series of incidents in the life of petty thief and pickpocket Xiao Wu. It is a compelling portrait of an individual in free-fall and, like other films by the director, shows the corrupting influence of Western values on an entire generation of Chinese. The film is reminiscent of the works of Robert Bresson in its use of non-professional actors, environmental sound, and in its spare cinematography by Yu Lik-Wai.


Xiao Wu (Hong Wei Wang) wanders about aimlessly with lots of money to spend and little to spend it on except call girls at the local karaoke bar. He befriends Mei Mei (Hao Hongjian), and they start to develop a tentative relationship, but his social awkwardness leads to ultimate rejection. With no other work to fall back on, Wu is forced to continue his petty crimes, constantly running afoul of the police. In the background, the government has issued an order to round up street criminals.


Jia captures the rhythm and feel of day-to-day life in Fengyang. This is life as it is actually lived, not as a series of dramatic events forced into a narrative structure. His film succeeds not only as social commentary but also as an acutely perceptive realization of the psychology of a self-absorbed individual. Xiao Wu is shown not as a victim or hero, but as tragic figure. In the universality of its compassion, however, Xiao Wu is a spiritual revelation and one of the best films of the 90s.

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Review by Howard Schumann on 22nd October 2003

Jia Zhangke's Unknown Pleasures is a powerful depiction of the spiritual malaise afflicting Chinese youth as a result of global capitalism. The film is set in a small, impoverished Chinese city in the remote Shanxi province close to the Mongolian border. Two 19-year olds Bin Bin (Zhao Wei Wei) and Xiao Ji (Wu Qiong) live on the margins in a city where, according to the director, two-thirds of the population were unemployed in 2001. They drink Coke, chain smoke cigarettes, covet U.S. dollars, talk excitedly about Hollywood movies such as Pulp Fiction, and dance to Western-style music at the local club. Apathetic and disengaged, with no job and nothing to do, the two friends hang around the local community center playing pool and chatting with the regulars. After trying out for an acting job, Xiao Ji becomes attracted to Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao) whose protective lover is a gangster named Quiao San. Xiao follows her around but seems unable or unwilling to make a move.


Bin Bin also has a girlfriend, Yuan Yuan (Zhou Qing Feng), but their romance seems to consist only in watching movies in a hotel room. Although Jia focuses on the boys as victims of social and economic dislocation in China, the theme is more about feelings of abandonment, loneliness, and emotional numbness. The film captures this sense of ennui more palpably than any movie I've seen in a long time. When Xiao finally abandons his sputtering motor bike in the middle of a new superhighway, Jia seems to be suggesting that both he and China itself are at a precarious crossroads in their existence and must discard what isn't working if they are to move on.

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