Unknown Pleasures / Xiao Wu DVD – Qiong Wu, Hao Honjian

Director Jia Zhang-ke gives a vivid portrayal of Chinese street life in these two films. ‘Unknown Pleasures’ follows the lives of two 19-year-old friends who live in the provincial Chinese city of Datong. Disaffected and without jobs or ambition they pass their days wandering around town on their motorbikes dreaming of escape whilst around them China is changing; television begins to show their country’s developing political and economic role in the world and how globalisation has reached China. ‘Xiao Wu’ centres on the aimless and dysfunctional life of Xiao Wu, a pickpocket and petty criminal whose friends have made it clear they want nothing to do with him. Xiao Wu wanders the street of Fengyang, growing increasingly alienated as a result of his failure to relate meaningfully to anyone, or to understand the changing times of his country.

Unknown Pleasures: 19 year old friends Bin Bin and Ziao Ji live in the provincial Chinese city of Datong; disaffected and without jobs or ambition they pass their days wandering around town on their motorbikes hanging out at the smoky pool hall dreaming of girls and escape. Around them China is changing television informs them of their nation’s rapidly developing political and economic role in the world and the inexorable encroachment of globalisation… Xiao Wu (aka P