SYNOPSIS

Unknown Pleasures takes its Chinese title (which translates as "Free of All Constraints") from a poem by the fourth century B.C. Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi that became a pop hit in 2001.
The film powerfully brings home the spiritual malaise affecting Chinese youth as a result of global capitalism. The film focuses on several young people, members of China's "new new" generation.
What the new world order offers them - US currency, American pop culture, the 2008 Olympics, new super highways - contrasted with the reality - few opportunities for young people, laid off state factory workers and a general degradation of moral values. Two 19-year olds, Bin Bin and Xiao Ji are heavily influenced by American culture.
They drink coke, chain smoke cigarettes, covet U.S. dollars, talk excitedly about Hollywood movies and dance to Western-style music at the local club. Bin Bin, the son of an unemployed Falun Gong member, has a girlfriend, Yuan Yuan, but their romance seems to consist only in watching movies in a hotel room and singing popular songs.Yuan Yuan wants to study International Trade in Beijing. Xiao Ji is in love with the girlfriend of a Mongolian thug. Neither guy has a job and they have no money.
They wander unemployed through Dantong, a small, ugly and impoverished Chinese city in remote Shanxi province close to the Mongolian border. They hang around a community recreation center, making occasional trips to discos, noodle houses and video parlors and eventually commit robbery.

TECHNICAL DATA

Director: Jia Zhang Ke
Script: Jia Zhang Ke
Cast: Wei Wei Zhao, Qiong Wu, Qing Feng Zhou, Hong Wei Wang, Ru Bai, Xi An Liu, Shou Lin Xu, Ren Ai Jun, Dao Xiao, Zi Ying   
Cinematography: Nelson Yu Lik-Wai
Runtime: 113 min. COLOR.