Zhou Xun and Gao YuanYuan in "Beijing Bicycle"

Beijing Bicycle is a 2001 film by Wang Xiaoshuai that begins as a story of young love and becomes a harrowing, blood drenched look at class conflict and the its potentially murderous consequences in China's capital city. It begins with shots of men from the countryside being interviewed as bicycle messengers for a busy document delivery company. They are the almost perfectly unsophisticated, unable to estimate how much they were paid while in the country and willing to do just about any job available. One of them is Guei who becomes the top earner in the company, able to make enough in a month to buy the mountain bike and getting a much better payout from the company. Guei lives with Mantis an older friend/cousin who has a tiny store in an alley, where they are able to look upon Qin, a resident of a luxury building that overlooks their alley. Qin, played by Zhou Xun, is as much a part of the "real" Beijing as the building she lives in or the high fashion outfits she wears. Their only contact with her is when she stops into the store occasionally to buy soy sauce.

The day that Guei finishes paying for his bike it is stolen and he is fired. Since the bike is the only way Guei can earn enough to stay in Beijing and also because he has a single-minded determination to find his it, he tracks it down. The bike is with Jian, a working class teenager who strives to be like the group of guys in his class at a private school and who are from wealthier families than he. The bike itself is an example of this--Jian doesn't have a bicycle when we first encounter him but is able to buy a used bike--Guei's bike. His friends all have new bikes given them by their parents, people who could live in the same type of apartment as Qin, the unobtainable beauty who entrances Guei. Jian now fits in with his buddies and has the self confidence to approach Xiao a beautiful classmate who, it turns out, has had her eye on him. She is played by Gao Yuanyuan.

Neither of the young actresses in this film have much to do. Zhou Xun's character is superfluous to the plot and structure of the movie--her scenes could be cut and not missed. Qin's story could be told as a short film in itself. Gao Yuanyuan has more screen time than Zhou Xun and Xiao, unlike Qin, actually has a few lines to speak.

This is not a review or summary of Beijing Bicycle but only serves to establish the characters played by Gao Yuanyuan and Zhou Zun.

First Zhou Xun, dressed and made up in borrowed finery, comes with her bottle to filled with soy sauce. Guei and Mantis can are so finely attuned to her movements that they can hear the "tip-tap" of her high heels from around the corner.

Having effortlessly cast her spell on the guys she leaves.

It isn't until much later in the film that Guei literally runs into Qin as he turns into the alley without looking. Oops.

Qin suffers from the malady that affects the characters played by beautiful young actresses: even after being run over and knocked unconscious her hair still falls perfectly around her face, her make-up remains unsmeared and the only apparent injury is a tread mark on her arm.

She awakes from her collision induced slumber, looks around and tries to figure out what is going on.

Qin returns the next day and desperately goes through everything in the tiny house/store, wordlessly trying to find something that she may have lost there and slumps in dejection when she is unsuccessful.

Zhou Xun doesn't get to do much but looks ravishing during every second she is on screen not doing it.

We first see Gao YuanYuan as Xiao when she encounters Jian in a well done "meet cute" scene that centers around a bicycle--hers in this case. She needs help with it but seems reticent to ask although she overcomes her shyness.

They become something of a couple. On a ride into a park Xiao decides it is time for things to get a little more serious between them and effectively draws Jian toward her. This is a lovely sequence of attraction and response.

It is interrupted when Jian sees Guei ridding away with Jian's bicycle with is also Guei's bike.

The next day in school Jian is upset and refuses to be comforted although Xiao tries. Note Gao Yuanyuan's reflection on the far left side of the screen. Someone much more versed in the semiotics of representation and the deconstruction of narrative filmic text through signification should explain what the reflection means. As far as how it looks--it is striking.

This is only a few small pieces of Beijing Bicycle which is uneven but brilliant in parts and which I may revisit more analytically (with fewer pictures of actresses) later on.

Gao Yuan-Yuan in stills from "Unmanned

These have been around for a while although I hadn't seen them before. From CRIENGLISH on May 12.

Gao Yuan-Yuan in Chinese wedding mag "Darizi"

If, like me, you can't enough of Gao Yuan-Yuan, here are some pictures from the May issue of "Darizi". If it is anything like the glossy bride magazines in the U.S. most of the pages will be ads aimed at newly engaged women and their mothers while the "editorial" matter will be pictures of models and actresses wearing the same dresses and accessories that the paid ads are pushing. These are from China Daily.

Gao Yuan-Yuan looked great at the Hong Kong Film Awards in her black floor-length slit on the seam gown but purple is really a great color for her:

As is ivory:

Here looking like a very calculating and subtle bride in traditional Western white. She could be thinking about a hostile corporate takeover she plans to announce later in the day after this wedding business is finished: 

More from the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards

A second batch, all from Zimbio, of red carpet pictures of the Hong Kong Film Awards.

First the impossibly elegant and still gorgeous Kara Hui Ying-Hung in a black boatnecked dress typical with its high neckline and snug fit, but given the deluxe treatment with a king's ransom in pearl accessories. Kara Hui looks great and clearly knows she does--at 50 she looks ready to take on the world again in "My Not So Young Auntie".

One more a slightly different pose and film speed (or whatever one calls the difference in skin tone from one shot to the next in digital photography)

Three of Kelly Lin Hsi-Lei. How do you improve on perfection? Super-glam black evening dress that looks like it was cut and sewn specifically for her. Her hair down but it works--everything works in this look. Kelly Lin is an extremely attractive actress and each part of this outfit shows off her beauty. A quick flip of her head or a bit of help from a fan offstage gets Kelly a casual wind-blown look in the last picture.

Zhu Xuan showing that red works really well on the red carpet. She is still sporting the short, wavy hair that fits her semi-retro look very well.

Zhu Xuan with Fala Chen who is wearing a completely different style--nice contrast between the two--which also looks great.

Here they are again--this time Fala Chen shows why the competition for the best light can seem like a rugby scum or ice hockey face-off. No one wants to disappear into anyone's shadow.

There are pictures of Gao Yuan-Yuan in the post from a couple of days ago but with such an elegant look there can't be too many. Even her shoes work--or almost work--although they look like a pair that she found in the back of her closet from a sale a few years ago. She, Kelly Lin and Kara Hui could give lessons on the not so simple art of looking relaxed and gorgeous while being blinded by flash bulbs, deciding where to stand and figuring what to do with your hands.

Another lady in red. Irene Wan Pik-Ha in what looks like Dior from the Fall/Winter 2009 collection or something based on that. The color works well as do the simple accessories. She has only been in a few movies over the past several years although was very decorative during the early 1990s and looks as if she still could be.

Lynn Hung Doi-Lam in a very formal ball gown looking either apprehensive or even shocked. She might be wondering who stole her accessories and purse--the plain look doesn't go with that dress. Anyone who wore it at Cannes, for example, might be sporting a tiara as well as lots of jewelry.

But she might also have just gotten a look at Miriam Yeung Chin-Wah's shoes. While nothing was going to make that green Dior (or Dior knockoff) dress look other than hideous she seems to be going out of her way to flash her shoes which are made of cork and plastic. They are something to wear with a pair of tight jeans and a crop-top while strolling on a Saturday afternoon if you want to give the boyz a thrill but they are ridiculous on the red carpet.

Miriam Yeung has the shoulders, neck, arms and general lovliness for a very bare look but this dress should have been the last choice for her--or anyone else. There might be someone somewhere who would look good in this but she was far from the Hong Kong Cultural Center on the night of the awards.

Perhaps the strangest of all was this young lady, described on Zimbio as "Ho Chiu-ying, daughter of tycoon Stanley Ho". While there is no reason that a billionaire shouldn't buy a spot for his daughter on the red carpet at the Hong Kong Film Awards--this isn't exactly the Nobel Peace Prize--she shouldn't wear a modified hoop skirt that would be just the thing at the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville. She looks like Hong Kong's answer to Miley Cyrus.

Arrivals at 29th Hong Kong Film Awards

The 29th Hong Kong Film Awards Presentation Ceremony was held at Hong Kong Cultural Center. The package of photos just arrived via Pony Express (even though they have been all over the place already) and here are a few:

Gao Yuan-Yuan in an outstanding cheongsam inspired black dress paired with killer heels, lovely upswept hair and almost no accessories. She seems to be enjoying the moment here, knowing she looks great.

Looking distinguished in another shot:

More black dress goodness--Denise Ho.

Michelle Ye in one of the best cut and draped gowns I have seen anywhere, paired with just the right jewelry. Elegant, sexy, delightful. The fabric covered buttons on the seam on her top are a very nice touch.

Shu Qi in a jeweled "chiffony" number. While she has been a controversial figure in the past one thing about Shu Qi can't be denied--she knows how to make a dress look great. This is a strapless Elie Saab number with lots of embellishments on the skirt. If I marketed upscale gowns I would send her piles of money to wear my stuff.

Another view with a very smirky Chang Chen happy that she is on his arm.

Rain Lee is thinking either "Look, I'm wearing a tent" or "Watch as I fly around the Cultural Center".

Gigi Leung looking ruefully sexy in a well cut, form fitting sheath which isn't helped by the asymetrical neckline. Other than that a lovely dress in which she looks lovely.

Big bows on evening gowns or red carpet dresses aren't usually a good idea and this one worn by Zhang Jingchu is a really big bow. She looks so good in this monstrosity that you just know she would have killed in anything decently designed. Love her hair, a nice departure from the short cuts or upswept looks that are de rigueur at most red carpet events. The tiny jeweled tiara/band sets it off perfectly.

All photos from Zimbio.com

More to come.