Watch unlimited films online for $6.99.
Try MUBI for FREE.
 
Dgenerate_w60

Betelnut

Binglang

China

2006

112 Min
Color
Hunan
Subtitled in English
Audio in Hunan
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

   |   

DIR Yang Heng

PROD Liu Jinhou, Yang Heng, Tian Xiaobo, Wang Hongwei

SCR Yang Heng

DP Yang Heng

CAST Tian Li, Liang Yu, Wu Min, Dai Qi, Xiong Heqing, Zhu Ju, Gao Yi, Tian Linfeng

ED Tian Kun

MUSIC Wu Jun

Rotterdam, Vancouver (Dragons & Tigers)

Synopsis

Along a sleepy Hunan riverside, two delinquent boys experience a summer of love and violence in Yang Heng’s visually stunning debut. Ali and Xiao Yu are two teenage rebels idling away their days along the banks of a river in Jishou, a quiet town in Hunan province. They steal motorbikes, bully and rob kids, sing karaoke and get into fist fights outside the local internet bar. But their rough exterior belies a deeper romanticism, and a tenderness unfolds between them and their teenage loves. As one day bleeds into the next in this impoverished rural setting, it becomes apparent that these sun-baked days of misspent youth will be the wildest, freest time of their lives. —IMDb

Wall

Displaying 4 of 5 wall posts.
Picture of Arsaib

Arsaib

16Oct10

"[Betelnut is] like a narrative daydream by James Benning, a contemplative study of two mildly delinquent teenagers going nowhere.... Plenty happens—violence, theft, and two stalled relationships—but the formalist approach finesses a sense of perfect stasis, underlined by the absence of moralizing, melodrama, and character arcs. There are less than 50 shots, each one of them exquisite."—Tony Rayns

clockworkdaisyblues likes this

InsertOzuReferencehere

21Sep10

This films heart is in the characters, but its driven forward by it's environment. usually a film moves forward by the characters and what they do (or what happens to them), the surroundings are a backdrop ... Betelnut does the exact opposite.

Picture of Melissa V

Melissa V

17Aug10

What a great summer movie, a must see for anyone familiar (or not!) with China's Hunan riverside area. Love both the main characters in this.

Picture of Isabella Tianzi Cai

Isabella Tianzi Cai

7Aug10

The boys in the story seem more lost than the girls, who at least exercise regularly or go off to another city in search of jobs. I know this may be a pure coincidence because there are probably just as many male migrant workers in China as female ones. But in general I just felt really sad seeing the young people in this film doing nothing much but idling and smoking. Are they the unskilled labor pool of tomorrow?

Related Films

Fans

Displaying 5 of 9 fans.

Lists

Displaying 5 of 13 lists.

Reviews

No reviews yet — Write the first

Forum

Displaying 0 discussion topics.