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Pickpocket

Original title: Xiao Wu
  • 1997
  • Unrated
  • 1h 50m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
3.7K
YOUR RATING
Pickpocket (1997)
Drama

A small town pickpocket whose friends have moved on to higher trades finds himself bitter and unable to adapt.A small town pickpocket whose friends have moved on to higher trades finds himself bitter and unable to adapt.A small town pickpocket whose friends have moved on to higher trades finds himself bitter and unable to adapt.

  • Director
    • Jia Zhang-ke
  • Writer
    • Jia Zhang-ke
  • Stars
    • Hongwei Wang
    • Hongjian Hao
    • Baitao Zuo
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.4/10
    3.7K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Jia Zhang-ke
    • Writer
      • Jia Zhang-ke
    • Stars
      • Hongwei Wang
      • Hongjian Hao
      • Baitao Zuo
    • 17User reviews
    • 22Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 7 wins & 1 nomination total

    Photos167

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    Top cast21

    Edit
    Hongwei Wang
    • Xiao Wu
    Hongjian Hao
    • Mei Mei
    Baitao Zuo
    Ma Jinrei
    Liu Junying
    Yonghao Liang
    An Qunyan
    Dongdong Jiang
    Long Zhao
    Reiren Wang
    Jinfeng Gao
    Li Renzhu
    Wu Juan
    Ji Jinshu
    Zhaorui Ren
    Xiaohua Zhang
    Deping Zhang
    Qiao Yingfei
    • Director
      • Jia Zhang-ke
    • Writer
      • Jia Zhang-ke
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews17

    7.43.6K
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    Featured reviews

    9seamouse

    it's about life in Chinese small town in beginning of 90's

    I have seen the movie,but the quality of videotape is very bad,and cause the conversation is shangxi(a north province in china),so thought i am a chinese,i can't hardly hear it clearly.speak generelly,this movie reflect ture life condition in small town of china.many of people in town like xiaowu liang had been influenced deep by pop culture from Hongkong or China itself.and xiaowu is a poor low class in China.we are laughing when the movie play,but we are also shocked after the movie over.
    10cd1793

    Realistic depiction of chinese small-towners

    Xiaowu is an average young man in a typical small town in China. He is shy, stubborn, values friendship, sometimes vanity-driven, sometimes even romantic. And he is a pick-pocket.

    It is surprising that although hundreds of millions of people lead their lives like xiaowu, "Xiao Wu" is the first candid depiction of their life in the many years of chinese filmmaking. I was particularly struck by the camera's honesty: run-down buildings along littered streets, filthy public bath places, hidden brothels camouflaged as karaoke shops...

    As the country opens up for economical changes, some people have "their own ways" to take advantage of the change and became rich, while the rest struggle to make a living. The film provided vivid portraits of people you probably know or have heard of: the former pick-pocket buddy of xiaowu who became a famous entrepreneur and grew ashamed of having a friend who picks pockets; the girl who works at a Karaoke but tells her mom that she's at school, who dreams of becoming a star and fell in love with xiaowu but eventually "contracted" herself to a rich man from Shan Xi...

    Even if you are not particularly interested in the setting of the film, the universal conflict of dignity and making a living, vanity and friendship, dream and reality, makes this film very interesting to watch.

    Bravo, Jia ZhangKe! I give this film a 10/10 for being the first of a genre that will shine in chinese cinema.
    10Moviespot

    very realistic

    Xiao Wu is to me an incredible lively film.It's like the viewer is totally a part of the scenes he is seeing.the director is a genius in giving you the real-life sense.The raw way of the photography gives you an honest picture of a certain time in China's history... we follow a petty thief Xiau Wu in his 'struggle 'to survive.... everyone around him , his mates from the scenes have all sworn off their criminal pasts and are on the road to be normal citizens...not Xia Wu however.He seems not to be able to break with his 'old'life. What this film shows us in an incredible way to is a piece of Recent Chinese history...the emerging of private enterprise...filmed in the mid 90-ies we as viewers are made very much part of these developments. an excellent and very capturing film in every way ! great job done by the all amateur actors cast.Zhang Ke Jia did an unique job here !
    TheBigSick

    Awful filmmaking

    The sound mixing is garbage, with a substantial amount of noise. The dialect cannot be understood. The camera is shaky. The performance is pretty amateurish. The pace is slow. All in all, this film is an unwatchable mess.
    7EasonVonn

    3.20.2024

    English title had given (Bresson's treasure) this prominent Jia Zhangke's iconic Chinese rural magical realism masterpiece a kind of tone of obsessional Heimlich in our hero Wang Hongwei, who graduated from the same film school as Jia Zhangke, but credited as a "non-professional actor", it's weird, but pretty rarefied.

    I don't know how Jia Zhangke created the perfect grotesque atmosphere between the two estranged or intimate conversations. His bravura handle of trims of pickpocketing details, with the remaining of Xiao Wu's personal life is brilliant.

    He is a bad, quotidian-stolen pickpocket, but he never lost his soul as a generous, wholehearted Valentine and a brother.

    The shaking camera is aptly combined with the realistic setting and crew. The performance is divine, especially Wang Hongwei, he looks fun and mysterious, charismatic.

    The blackout of the romantic scene is a bravura technique. Wang Hongwei ascends.

    Best Emmys Moments

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    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Jia Zhang-ke: the man sent by Xiao Yang to return Xiao Wu's wedding present.
    • Connections
      Referenced in Unknown Pleasures (2002)

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    FAQ16

    • How long is Pickpocket?Powered by Alexa
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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • 1997 (China)
    • Countries of origin
      • China
      • Hong Kong
    • Language
      • Mandarin
    • Also known as
      • The Pickpocket
    • Filming locations
      • Fenyang, Shanxi, China
    • Production companies
      • Hu Tong Communications
      • Radiant Advertising Company
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,569
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 50m(110 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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