A prize winner in Berlin – Xie Fei’s followup, with the supremely uncatchy title Woman Sesame Oil Maker, would win the golden bear. This movie’s star Jiang Wen is better known – as a director and an actor from Zhang Yimou to Star Wars.
Young Jiang is out of jail and back in Beijing, his friends either imprisoned or dead, nobody happy to see him. He gets a tip and starts selling merchandise on the sidewalk, doing an impressive amount of business. Starts giving rides home to a girl who sings at his regular bar. All seems to be going ok until his buddy Chazi escapes from labor camp and comes visiting, then our boy’s life on the edges of the underworld starts catching up to him. The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance, part 30506.