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United States of AmericaWhen an impoverished country couple adopts a crippled young girl and puts her to work begging on city streets, a battle soon ensues over her fate.
Synopsis“Suspenseful, moving yet ruthlessly unsentimental.” – Jason Anderson, Eye Weekly“
A nearly perfect little film.” – Shelly Kraicer, Vancouver International Film Festival
When an impoverished country couple adopts a crippled young girl and puts her to work begging on city streets, a battle soon ensues over her fate.
Luo Jiang and Guihua, a poor, middle-aged couple with few prospects, decide to buy an 11-year-old girl, Xiao Ezi (aka “Little Moth”), for $140 in rural China. Xiao Ezi’s life is in peril, as she is forced to earn money for her new parents as a beggar while suffering from a blood disease that leaves her unable to walk. Her greedy adoptive father, Luo Jiang, refuses to buy her medicine, while Guihua’s growing maternal affection wracks her with guilt. After a run-in with local extortionists, the three flee into the territory of the unsavory Mr. Yang, whose one-armed boy Xiao Chun is also forced to beg. Inevitably the grownups take turns taking advantage of each other, giving the children a rare opportunity to develop a protective bond with one another.
With virtually no budget, a hand-held digital camera and a cast of non-professionals, Peng Tao turns the sordid street life of small town China into a chain-reaction tale of human cruelty and unforgettable suspense. LITTLE MOTH “melds the anger and storytelling scope of Dickens, the doc-influenced immediacy and sensitive gaze of the Dardenne brothers, and the best tendencies of recent Chinese cinema.” (Robert Koehler, Variety).
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Directed by
PENG Tao -
Written by
PENG Tao -
Produced by
PENG Tao
Written by: PENG Tao
Produced by: PENG Tao
Cast
Crew
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Director
PENG Tao
Sorry. It should be "It glides through the most emotional moments as IF there is nothing to be looked more intensely into."
Being a native born, I must be too jaded to feel as intensely as you guys do. I have to say that I find this film bland and void of morals. It glides through the most emotional moments as there is nothing to be looked more intensely into. While it might be that the director has intended to shoot this way because he also does not comment on whom to blame for Xiao Erzi's tragedy, I tend to be critical of this approach when it comes to narrative films.
@EVOC MAN: I completely agree, I can't believe that father would be so heartless. This film is fantastic, albeit incredibly heartbreaking. Everyone should watch this!
I felt so bad for the girl and mother. Then there's the husband which is another story. Here's a guy that is so lucky to have a beautiful wife and adopted daughter and what does he do. He acts like a pimp, treats them like garbage and won't pay for the girl's medical treatments. Argh!! The poor girl being left on the side of the bridge to fend for herself at the end just breaks my heart.