Tian xia wu zei

I don't know a lot about Chinese film but I've seen some of the recent Kung fu hits (House of flying daggers, Redcliff, all entertaining for their genre but fairly empty productions) and this one is a real gem--a tight well woven plot, touching and interesting characters and some classic Chinese hero traits (think superhuman abilities that often defy gravity) suavely transposed into the world of petty thieves with a light and gentle touch that makes you almost forget some of the gestures are probably physically impossible. The music score is pitch perfect, light, jazzy, with just a hint of something deeper and sadder.

The acting is superb and the script really keeps you guessing. Scenes hover somewhere between outright hilarity, touching irony, and fleeting hints of the genuinely tragic. There is rarely a false note and the actor who plays the intellectually limited villager pulls off a terrific balancing act: he manages to be naive and rustic without slipping into Forest Gumpy type nonsense....

Well worth the viewing...

Feng Xiaogang has made himself the fame of making good holiday films in the past several years. Most of them achieved the purposes of making laugh and making people a happy new year.

This one is the best one in that both in the filming and produce, it has more meaning and more depth. Well, it is still not an 'art' movie. It is still just targeted for box income.

The performance of actors and actresses is OK, not too much to exceed what they are usually doing. By maintaining their perform, this movie achieve the adequate balance between a good movie (usually a heavy one) and a laughter making movie.

The story is a made one for sure. A world without thieves has disappeared from 10 years ago. Now it is a world full of thieves. It might remind people in their 30s the good old days of China ...

I have seen this movie 'A world without thieves' for at least 5 time.I like it very very much! My reasons are as follows:

1.It is not only a Holiday movie that makes people laugh,but also it states a very moving love story which is just fantastic and makes you feel unbelievable at the depth of the story,I was far moved after I saw it at the cinema!Just meaningful! 2.Compared with other movies that appeared at the same time when 'A world without thieves' was released,Although this movie did not hit the first place in the box income,it was also presented several awards in some formal ceremony! 3.It is directed by one of the most famous directors in China,XIAOGANG FENG,and the leading actor ,actress,the supporting actors and actresses worked hand in hand and added more than the film itself into it! Just wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!Worth a see!!!!!!!!!

As another reviewer stated here, this feels like a light comedy. But there is so much more to it. And to have the ability to mix the lightness (especiall in the way many scenes are staged and shot) with the philosophical question it raises is just plain great. It might not be your cup of tea or you might think that some people are reading things into the movie that aren't there. But seeing a trailer for another movie done by this director, I am pretty sure, that those things are meant to be there.

Nevertheless, it doesn't make this movie flawless. And quite a few people will dislike it. But as with many movies, you should be able to tell, if you like the (visual) style and tone of the movie, when it reaches the ten minute mark. If it didn't convince you by then, you could stop watching, because it won't have any different effect by the end of it. On the other hand, if you are "captured" (no pun intended) into the world, you will have a truly great experience watching this movie.

World without Thieves (Tian Xia Wu Zei) is a film by director Feng Xiaogang. It involves a romantically involved pair of thieves. As the film begins they are extorting money from a rich man they have filmed trying to seduce the woman. Soon after this, the woman decides she has had enough of this kind of life and wants a normal existence. Her partner in crime, however, has no intention of quitting the business. She stops at a Buddhist temple to pray and there is befriended by a worker on the temple. The man, whose friends call him Dumbo, is returning home with his five years wages from working on the temple, 60, 000 RMB. Although his friends tell him to wire the money home and warn him about thieves he insists he is fine taking the money on the train with him and that they are too distrustful of people. In an attempt to prove to his friends that there are no thieves on the train, the young man has announces to the entire train that he has the money and that any thieves should show themselves. When they don't, Dumbo says, "see,there are no thieves here." On the train, he hooks up with the thieving couple, and the woman makes it her mission to try to protect the gullible young man from those who would steal the money, in particular from a gang of thieves on the train, and perhaps from her own partner. Like Bu Jian, Bu San, this film is not a light comedy, although it seems to start out as such. Instead, it is a serious and emotionally taxing film that can be alternatively thought provoking and hilarious, with the contrast between the gullibility of the young man and the sophistication of the world weary thieves providing the central moral focus Feng is a major Chinese writer/director. He traditionally releases movies around the Chinese New Year. A beautiful movie, highly recommended.