XIAO WU (PICKPOCKET)

A film by Jia Zhang-Ke

Cast : Wang Hongwei, Zuo Baitao

1998 / drama / Chine / original title : 小武 / 108’ / Color / status : completed / Mandarin / General Audience / long feature-film / All Rights / International collections

1997, Fengyang, Shanxi. Xiao Wu is a small town pickpocket. Having never managed to get away from the streets like his friends, he finds himself alone with his troubles. A local cop is out to get him and his love affair with Mei Mei, the local karaoke hostess, is going nowhere. He realises it’s time to think about his future but can he find the strength to break with his criminal past?

 

Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with Jia Zhang-ke and in association with MK2. Restoration funding provided by the Hobson/ Lucas Family Foundation.

 

PRODUCTION: TOP CLEVER LTD.

Press

“An incisive mastery of political symbolism.”

The New Yorker

Pictures