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Lost in Beijing

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Lost in Beijing (2008)

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Reviews Counted: 19

Fresh: 9

Rotten:10

Average Rating: 5.4/10

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release: Jan 25, 2008 Limited

Synopsis: Set against the frenzied backdrop of Beijing, where a fast growing economy has created a new class of urban socialites and nouveau riche, Lost in Beijing features four of Asian cinema’s biggest stars - Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Elaine Jin,... Set against the frenzied backdrop of Beijing, where a fast growing economy has created a new class of urban socialites and nouveau riche, Lost in Beijing features four of Asian cinema’s biggest stars - Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Elaine Jin, Fan Bingbing and Tong Da Wei - who together fumble their way through a tragicomic ménage-a-quatre that left the Chinese censors blazing.

An-kun (Tong Da Wei) and his wife Ping-guo (Fan Bingbing) have built a modest living for themselves following their move to the capital from China’s poorer northeast. An-kun works washing the windows of Beijing’s skyscrapers while Ping-guo earns a decent wage as a masseuse at the Gold Basin Foot Massage Palace, a popular parlour owned by Dong (Tony Leung Ka-Fai), a rich middle-aged businessman who epitomizes China’s new money-obsessed society.

When Ping-guo returns to the massage parlour following a liquid lunch break with one of her coworkers, Dong finds her sprawled across a couch in his office. Exploiting her drunken state, he awkwardly forces himself on her, not realizing that An-kun, atop his perch outside the office window, is a witness to what is happening. Seeing this as a moneymaking opportunity, An-kun decides to blackmail Dong – either he pays or he gets brought up on charges for rape. But when Ping-guo learns that she’s pregnant, the stakes get even higher.

In a brokered deal that includes An-kun, Ping-guo, Dong and Dong’s wife Wang-mei (Elaine Jin), the fate of the child will join the two couples in an emotional game of tug of war, where the sides will split over money and revenge, but where love and redemption may rise above them all. --© New Yorker Films
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Starring: Tony Leung Ka Fai, Fan Bingbing, Elaine Jin, Tong Da Wei

Starring: Tony Leung Ka Fai, Fan Bingbing, Elaine Jin, Tong Da Wei

Director: Li Yu

Director: Li Yu
Producer: Fang Li
Studio: New Yorker Films

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Release:

May 13, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Anamorphic Widescreen

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - Mandarin
  • Subtitles - English - Optional

Additional Release Material:

Trailer:

  • Theatrical Trailer

Interactive Features:

  • Scene Selection

Additional Product:

  • Booklet

Reviews for Lost in Beijing

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1 - 19 (sorted by date)
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Ratings Image

Lost In Beijing is most noted for several thumb-nosing gratuitous sex scenes that got the movie reprimanded by the censors back home.

Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | comment Comment
05/07/08
Prairie Miller
NewsBlaze
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Begins with a wild coincidence and goes rapidly downhill from there, becoming one of the most unintentionally hilarious tragedies in quite some time.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
04/18/08
G. Allen Johnson
San Francisco Chronicle
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The film benefits from solid performances by its four stars, but it is overly didactic and drawn-out as its comic tone grows darker and darker.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
04/18/08
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
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Though the film’s emotional tone is blurry -- toward the end it swerves away from farce and back toward anguish — its social criticism could hardly be more clear.

comment Comment
04/14/08
A.O. Scott
New York Times
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You don't wind up thinking much of any of these characters. Sympathy is lost somewhere around the time the frantic camera style makes you dizzy.

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
04/12/08
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals
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Too serious for comedy and too improbable to achieve much impact as social melodrama, it works best as a showcase for its actors, all of whom bring more depth to the material than it achieves on its own.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
03/28/08
Jeff Shannon
Seattle Times
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Lost in Beijing tells the story of a man who, when his wife becomes pregnant after being raped by her employer, enters into a series of financial negotiations with him.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
03/27/08
Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Fang Li should be applauded for his courageous efforts to address taboo subjects of sex and politics, even while one may question certain aspects of his films.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
01/28/08
David Noh
Film Journal International
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As messy a dysfunctional relationship drama as you could hope to witness on screen. How do you say 'Jerry Springer' in Mandarin?

Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | comment Comment
01/27/08
Kam Williams
NewsBlaze
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The sex is sufficient (if you care), the acting is good, and the shots of Beijing's streets and highways are interesting. But the story is contrived.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
01/25/08
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
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When a rapist (Tony Leung) is the second-most sympathetic character in a story about greed, duplicity and adultery among four people, it needs a more forgiving audience than me.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
01/25/08
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
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whatever meaning the film might have had about China's disaffected, new striving capitalists is lost in the chaos and clutter

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/24/08
Chris Barsanti
Filmcritic.com
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An engaging parable about the dire effects of giving in to the Western obsession with money.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
01/24/08
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice
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It's a funny film, a parable of sorts, and a character-driven take on what's ticking in China.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
01/24/08
John Anderson
Newsday
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The situations may be forced, but the struggles with basic vices -- greed, jealousy, lust, deception -- are convincingly elemental.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
01/24/08
Stephen Garrett
Time Out New York
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An involving, highly accessible portrait of an emotional menage a quatre in the modern-day Chinese capital.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
01/22/08
Derek Elley
Variety
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Lost in Beijing might have the Chinese censors trying to wield their scissors, but Li Yu's muddled sex drama is unlikely to cause an uproar, or make much of a stir, anywhere else.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
01/22/08
Ray Bennett
Hollywood Reporter
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The prevalent shooting style is monotonous naturalism, as the camera buzzes between contentious actors and trolls after anything on the move.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
01/22/08
Nick Pinkerton
Village Voice
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Last year's unwanted-pregnancy sweepstake continues with Lost in Beijing, Li Yu's soap-operatic drama set in China's bustling capital.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
01/20/08
Fernando F. Croce
Slant Magazine
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