Beijing Bicycle

With this masterful, flawless film, Xiaoshuai emerges in the front ranks of China's now numerous, world-renowned filmmakers.

Even without its bleak and affecting story, Beijing Bicycle would work beautifully as a travelogue alone.

The movie is filled with sweetly funny moments, but its exposure of class, income and cultural differences makes it an uneasy charmer right up to its violent denouement.

There's a natural authenticity to the film that makes it intensely watchable, even though it's repetitive and slightly underwritten.

Beautifully filmed and very atmospheric in terms of evoking the sights and sounds of modern-day Beijing, this Chinese movie suffers a flat tire about halfway through.

Too simple for its own good.

Wang mistakes affectless storytelling and character conception for rigor, and as a result huge portions of Beijing Bicycle are dull and repetitive.