10 April 2012
Jia Zhang Ke's tale about provincial pickpocket Xiao Wu ('little Wu') is a comment on the direction of change in modern China - Wu, the penniless robber, is seen as a loser, even by his family, compared to friends involved in cigarette trafficking and other dodgy deals who are lauded as part of the new class of entrepreneurs.
The film was made without official government backing - a rarity in the People's Republic - and first came to notice at the 1998 London Film Festival.
A meditation on how material circumstances diminish personal freedom - even Wu's love for karaoke bar hostess Mai Mei (Ma Jun Rei) heads for failure, doomed by his poverty and unfamiliarity with the 100 Yuan notes needed for a more bourgeois lifestyle.
Xiao Wu
Cert: 15
