Pickpocket

El Biffo

3.5 This reminded me so much of The Plot Against Harry, except it is Chinese instead of Jewish and not nearly as funny.

Lorna Singh

A series of events in the day to day life of a petty criminal.Yes,he is self absorbed,but there are scenes about keeping one's dignity while trying to survive.Especially,when friends reject him and he is unable to do anything about it.

Marc St-Cyr (Death cinéphilia)

Holiday break # 1: '' The entire film is interpreted by non-professional actors '' The final scene is documentary degrés zéro.

BLEIBTREU

The final scene is absolute payoff. You can see how the director was heavily influenced by European new wave directors. But his content, his writing, his picture is totally his own. Only remnants of what is seen in this film can still be witnessed in China today - merely 20 years later. Watch this for an eerily candid view of China before it became the powerhouse as we know it today.

simonadp

what i find extraordinary about jia zhangke's cinema is the ability to tell small, provincial stories of characters that happen to be, despite themselves, in the middle of momentous changes in the history and culture of China: the lack of identity, the sense of loss, the cultural displacement with western models and, above all, the violence, the disregard of a political system only able to exploit its own people.

Thorsten

My second Jia Zhangke. Similar slow style as in Still Life and a similar passive main character. Found it a bit longish, but that did not bother because there are some extraordinary beautifully shot sequences, for example the one in the karaoke bar with his love interest. Also I really missed the magical stuff from the later films (the rocketship in Still Life). This one here is a more strict neo-realism.

Henrique Barbosa Justini

a liberdade parece algo, assim como o amor que brota da acompanhante, impossível de alcançar. o cinema de jia é sobre vultos que oprimem o ser em desejo (a aliança) e desprezo (como na última cena em que xiao é humilhado em público). um país formado por pessoas dispersas. televisão como árbitra-final que julga as pessoas, enquanto dá as notícias relevantes e divulga fofoca sobre casamentos.

Jdsarmientoburgos

Not the Bresson one, but the gritty Chinese one about a lonely thief who falls for a hooker during the rapid industrialization of china. China’s internationally successful films tend to mirror Hollywood in its lush production values. But Pickpocket is a rough-looking, cinephile dream that focuses on a changing poverty stricken China blurring the lines between reality and fiction.