Lao pao er

A so-so movie about some Chinese old farts who failed to adapt themselves into the ever changing, rapidly deteriorating environment and social structure in China, especially the horrible turn-out of Beijing. This film signed up the famous and controversial director as the leading character, an old fart that got nothing to do everyday, but hold and hanging a bird cage, walking around to deal with some injustice happened daily in that part of the Capital. An old fart who had a dark background and history when he was young, a widower with a rebellious son who didn't respect at all but despise him. The animosity and misunderstanding between father and son finally clashed and tested when the young one involved in a trouble, and his old fart father had tried to solve it with his old but die-hard rigid moral principles originated from his mobster time when he was young.

The whole movie was stretched too long just for the purpose of allowing these Beijing old farts to deliver some wise-cracking dialog that made the old Beijing people so self-important and so self-pompous, considering themselves a notch higher than the other people living outside of the Capital city. The wise-cracking dialog had stretched so thin that sometimes really needed your patience to sit tight to watch. The storyline and the scenarios involved lot of unnecessary sub-plots to patch up the whole somehow very hollow and weak story. It totally relied on this actor/director to deliver most of the pointless dialog. At first, the leading character gave you an impression that he indeed could talk the talk and walk the walk, but then, suddenly his obnoxious attitude and his toughness surrendered to his physical conditions, with heart disease. An old fart, tough with his mouth but scared to death to surgery and the small scalpels to be used in his surgery.

The storyline later turned out to be more ridiculous when he tried to meet the gangsters from the other side. So pretentious gestures in his preparation before the final encounter: shaving his hairs, putting up an old green military long coat, long boots and then, taking out a Japanese Katana, riding a bike through the Beijing streets, with an escaped ostrich aside all along.....These, are all parts of the prolonged to the extreme unnecessary scenes, so overly contrived to certain unbearable limit. And then, what we got is nothing but mucho thunders, not even thunderbolts, albeit rains.

This movie is just too Chinese to be appreciated by any other country's viewers. Even to the Chinese who did not grow up in Beijing would have a quite tough time to sit through the whole nine yards if the dialog in Chinese didn't keep interpreting with ( ) to make them understandable. A very contrite and pretentious, sometimes even quite shallow movie. Not too bad, but definitely not great either. Watchable, but need some patience to sit through.

This movie is really a cultural thing and it's for the people that grew in Beijing. Gladly, I am. Even a lot of Chinese people can't understand it since it contains a lot of Beijing dialect. As a guy born in Beijing and lived there for 15 years. I can't understand all the dialect in the movie. So it is impossible for foreigners to have a perfect experience on this movie since the dialect is the part that makes it a good movie (unless you're really good at Chinese and actually lived in Beijing for many years).

Although I admit there is some bad acting choice or bad filming, but it is a realistic represent of those Beijing "Lao Pao er". It appeals a lot to Chinese. Right now, we're losing a lot of these dialect and culture, this movie is about help us to recollect those tradition.

My advise is: Don't watch it. If you are interested in it and going to watch it, take it easy, don't have any thoughts like "this movie is gonna be amazing" before you watch it. The target consumers is Chinese (and mainly some of the Chinese). Asking foreigners to truly understand this movie is like asking a man to use a sanitary napkin.

It's really difficult to review this film in a different language. In fact it's even tough to comprehend it for many Chinese who are distant from Peking for the reason that it entirely roots on the very local culture of Peking, of both yesterday and today.

The main theme, to me, is about the change of belief.

To many countries, the late half of the 20th century is a continuous of history. But in China, things are opposite. There was no much difference from North Korea till 1980s. But now it's more Capitalism than any genuine Capitalism countries. The old generation, including the Mr. Six, was born in the North Korea - like era. Although brainwashed by propaganda daily, what these former Peking boys value most are something traditional, the loyalty to friends and the courage to risk life for friends. They are really man, of great dignity, and will not bow down for money.

The young generation, born in 1990s or 2000s, grew up in a totally different era. Peking, along other major cities of China, spent the last 20 years to become metropolitans cannot be differentiated from New York by appearance. The lifestyle of many Peking youth is in close association with alcohol, pub, racing cars. Also ironically, a significant portion of these playboys are descendants of those high rank communists who intended to shape the country to the 2nd USSR. Consequently, the belief of the younger generation, the worship of money and power, is totally different from the former.

The film is of plenty vanishing features of old Peking, like the Peking alleys or so called Hu Tong, the parrot in the cage, and the last scene, a remarkable stamp of those heroic boys in 1970s who fight with Katanas (collections of high rank communist from Sino-japan war) and green woolen coats.

Mr. Six was a Beijing crime boss who still has the respect of his hood despite being long retired, but he gets back into the game when his son gets into some trouble, owing rich privilege kids some money.

It's not as action packed as I thought it would be from the plot line, Yet it's still very appealing as if you are watching an action movie.

It's a lot like Unforgiven, as Mr. Six spends the film trying to reconnect with old ties in order to help his son. It was interesting seeing him handle himself ageist a foe that does not care about his past. The actor who played Mr. Six was very successful in his low key style of acting.

It was funny and charming and dramatic perfectly at the same time.

I have watch this repeatedly, storyline on point, I recommend this one