Xiao Wu (1997)

Highly Recommended

China/Hong Kong

Feature Film

Original Title: 小武

Writer/Director: Jia Zhangke

Cinematographer: Nelson Yu Lik-wai

Cast: Wang Hongwei, Hao Hongjian, Zuo Baitao Ma Jinrei, Liu Junying, Liang, Yonghao, An Qunyan, Jiang Dongdong

Xiao Wu, a twenty-something pickpocket who has yet to graduate to the more socially acceptable forms of pilfering proffered by rampant capitalism that his former friends have, begins to question his lot in life when his best friend fails to invite him to his forthcoming wedding, leaving him to seek comfort in the arms of a bar girl, in Jia’s witty, touching, and thoroughly compelling portrait of provincial (low)life. Iain.Stott