★★★★½ (4.5/5)
Here’s a concise review of Xiao Wu (1997), directed by Jia Zhangke, often translated as Pickpocket .
Jia Zhangke’s debut feature, Xiao Wu , is a landmark of Chinese independent cinema. It follows a small-time pickpocket in Fenyang, a rural town in Shanxi province, as he watches the world modernize around him—without him.