Features: DVD, Widescreen, English, Subtitled
Restless and unemployed teenaged best friends Xiao Ji and Bin Bin spend their time wandering around on motorbikes and hanging out at the pool hall. Sparks fly however, when Xiao Ji meets the beautiful dancer Qiao Qiao, and Bin Bin pursues a romance with a young student but without hope love doesn't prevail and desperation sets in. Taking a cue from American crime movies, the temptation of easy money becomes too difficult to resist and in a final attempt to break free from their day-to-day suburban life, Xiao Ji and Bin Bin embark on half-baked plan to rob a bank.A harrowing account of disillusioned young people living in China, director Jia Zhang-ke (Platform) still finds plenty to laugh about. Beautifully photographed by famed cinematographer Yu Lik-wai, Unknown Pleasures cements Zhang-ke's reputation as one of China's most important filmmakers.
"May be Jia's most concentrated evocation of contemporary China's spiritual malaise." J. Hoberman, Village Voice
"A stunning study of ennui." V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Editor's Note
UNKNOWN PLEASURES ruminates on the boredom, longing, and helplessness of two teenage boys in Datong, a small town in northern China. While Bin Bin (Zhao Wei Wei) has a serious girlfriend (Zhou Qing Feng) and thinks about a future with her, she is only focused on leaving town and never coming back. Having been accepted to Beijing University, she is much more focused on her studies than on her occasional dates to the movies with Bin Bin. Xiao Ji (Wu Qiong) is Bin Bin's best friend, a slacker with a motor scooter and a skater haircut that constantly masks his eyes. The boys haphazardly witness a group of young girls auditioning for an advertising campaign for Mongolian Liquor, and Xiao Ji becomes obsessed with the contest's winner, Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao). A fast-moving girl with a bossy, slightly threatening boyfriend, Qiao Qiao does all she can to deter Xiao Ji's advances, but eventually his persistence pays off. A moody, sometimes dreamlike film enhanced by its tough and gritty urban landscape, UNKNOWN PLEASURES is a thoughtful work from writer-director Jia Zhang-ke.
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