As the film of the week I select Jia Zhangke’s feature directorial debut “Pickpocket”, out of the simple reason that it can be currently seen in its restored glory on Mubi. The film, originally shot on 16mm, stars Wang Hongwei as an outcast con-artist Xiao Wu who is equally estranged from the society and his partners in crime, and whose name serves as the film’s original title.
As it is going to be the case in Zhangke’s later body of work, the milieu the film is set up in in his hometown, it is spoken in the local Mandarine dialect, and the plot is heavily charged with symbolism. Little poisonous arrows are flying towards the direction of the alleged socialist society in which money talks, prostitution blooms, and in which the police turns a blind eye to corruption and middle-scale crime, noticing and punishing petty criminals only.
As it is going to be the case in Zhangke’s later body of work, the milieu the film is set up in in his hometown, it is spoken in the local Mandarine dialect, and the plot is heavily charged with symbolism. Little poisonous arrows are flying towards the direction of the alleged socialist society in which money talks, prostitution blooms, and in which the police turns a blind eye to corruption and middle-scale crime, noticing and punishing petty criminals only.
- 9/5/2022
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
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