Lost in Beijing | Rotten Tomatoes

Lost in Beijing

2007

1h 52m

Drama

List

52%

23 Reviews

Tomatometer

59%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A young married woman, Liu Pingguo (Bingbing Fan), works in a massage parlor for sleazy Lin Dong (Tony Leung Ka Fai) and his infertile wife, Wang Mei (Elaine Jin). One night, Lin finds Liu drunk and rapes her, while her window-washer husband, An Kun (Tong Da Wei), helplessly watches. Furious, An attacks Lin's car and tries to blackmail him. When Liu discovers she's pregnant, the two couples come to an agreement: money for Liu if the child is Lin's, and nothing but custody if An is the father.

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Audience Member

Good, quite surprisingly.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

one of the things I love about movies is they can take u places u wouldn't normally go like beijing which is another character in this pic wow what a city!

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A veiled critique of flourishing capitalism in China which was instantly banned in the country. Good performances and unexpected twists make it a fascinating watch.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The movie's Chinese title is literally "Apple," which refers to the main female character in the movie. It's very difficult to watch, simply because it's so depressing. Everything is about money and revenge. I'm sure there's a lot of people not like that in Beijing, but it shows how money can ruin people.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It's a political and social commentary gone awry with too much ridiculous melodrama that even the generous gratuitous sex scenes cannot distract from. What was meant to be dark and shocking became laughable. Ending scene was meant to be thought provoking, but I was so glad it came to an end. Goodness gracious! It's clear, tho, that China and it's growing new bourgeois are embarking on a new standard of morality that the 2000+ culture/country has never had to deal with before. The one thing that made me sad tho, was the ever present notion, that the woman's feelings are non important. Both women, in this film, were victims of the still very chauvinist driven society as they suffer at the decisions of their men. Ahhh, with the coming reality of men out numbering the women, this culture of golden sons are going to have a very sudden rude awakening....but I digress from the actual movie. In essence, China's version of "L' Enfant" that spiraled out of control plotwise and lost their way with the point they were trying to make. the actors were excellent as was cinematography, but plot was a hot mess. I do not argue how realistic it is. It certainly is a slap in the face for me on how realistic it was. And in the end, it made me very sad at the spiraling down of our cultural morality and integrity as a result of the rush of capitalism in a long suffering survivalist society. It's a good movie, but the credibility as well was the social and political message itself got lost because it was undermined by the ridiculousness of the twists and turns of the plot line on the latter half, ie falling for your rapist? But the notion of who CAN you trust if you can't even trust your spouse is definitely jarring in a society where everyone is driven by the newfound money to be had. It seems after being raped by Mao, his Commmunism and Cultural Revolution, the Chinese will soon be stripped of our cultural values and integrity by Capitalism. This is very sad

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A tough, gritty drama that pulls no punches. Top notch acting from the entire cast and directed with a steady hand by Yu Li. If you're a fan of foreign films this is a must see.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

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Yu Li

Director

Tony Leung Ka Fai

Dong

Fan Bingbing

Ping-guo

Elaine Jin

Wang-mei

Tong Da Wei

An-kun

Li Fang

Writer

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Ben Kenigsberg

Time Out

Rated: 3/5

Nov 18, 2011

Full Review

Stephen Garrett

Time Out

Rated: 3/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

G. Allen Johnson

San Francisco Chronicle

Begins with a wild coincidence and goes rapidly downhill from there, becoming one of the most unintentionally hilarious tragedies in quite some time.

Rated: 1/4

Apr 18, 2008

Full Review

Panos Kotzathanasis

Asian Movie Pulse

“Lost in Beijing” maybe somewhat surrealistic in its context, a tendency that actually continued in Li Yu’s next films with Fan Bingbing, but is definitely fun to watch on a number of levels, and that is where its true value lies.

Rated: 6.5

Jan 2, 2023

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

A monotonous sordid melodrama.

Rated: C

Jul 6, 2009

Full Review

Amber Wilkinson

Eye for Film

Li cements her status as a Chinese director to watch.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jun 13, 2008

Full Review

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Synopsis

A young married woman, Liu Pingguo (Bingbing Fan), works in a massage parlor for sleazy Lin Dong (Tony Leung Ka Fai) and his infertile wife, Wang Mei (Elaine Jin). One night, Lin finds Liu drunk and rapes her, while her window-washer husband, An Kun (Tong Da Wei), helplessly watches. Furious, An attacks Lin's car and tries to blackmail him. When Liu discovers she's pregnant, the two couples come to an agreement: money for Liu if the child is Lin's, and nothing but custody if An is the father.

Director: Yu Li
Screenwriter: Li Fang, Yu Li
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Streaming): May 9, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $10.8K
Runtime: 1h 52m