# Streetwise (2021 film)

Streetwise (Chinese: 街娃儿, Pinyin: jiē wá ér) is a 2021 Chinese crime drama film directed by Jiazuo Na. The film follows a lowly debt collector working to take care of his ailing father.

## Plot

The film opens in 2010, Fengjie, Chongqing. A young man (Dong Zi) on a boat scatters someone's ashes into the Yangtzi river out of an urn.
Flash back to 2004, Sichuan. Dong Zi and his mentor Jun are working as debt collectors. Dong Zi has been working with Jun for the last six months. His father is ill and his mother is dead. Dong Zi's dad (Qi Zi) is an ill gambling addict with a bad temper, who has been in and out of hospital. Dong Zi is working to make money to pay for his father's medical bills. Dong Zi has a crush on tattoo artist Jiu'er. Her ex-husband, Four (who is also Dong Zi and Jun's boss), asks to remarry her but she refuses. Qi tells Dong to not mess around with her since she's the boss's ex-wife. The boss discovers that Jun's been skimming money from his business and has him beaten up. Jun breaks up with his girlfriend and starts working at a karaoke bar. Four visits the bar and humiliates Jun.
Dong and his Jiu'er visit Qi in the hospital, and Qi causes a scene insisting that Dong does not sleep with her. Jiu'er collects her things from Four's home and tells him she's moving to Hunan. Dong is called to the hospital by police when Qi is caught running a pseudo-brothel out of his hospital room. Dong takes his mother's urn from Qi and they fight. Dong brings the urn to the tattoo parlor and finds that Jiu'er had packed up the shop. She gives Dong a tattoo and tells him she is going to sublet the shop. Dong says he wants to go with her but can't because he has to take care of his dad.
Dong sees Jiu'er off. His credit at the hospital runs out so he returns to debt collecting, being more violent and unpredictable than before. He kidnaps the daughter of a delinquent debtor and threatens to blow himself up with her with firecrackers. Four orders his thugs to take care of Dong or Qi. The thugs walk in on Qi as he's about to commit suicide by hanging and they try to convince him not to do it. The thugs leave and Qi writes a suicide note, but before killing himself he trashes the room and has a heart attack. He's brought back to the hospital in critical condition. Jun's ex-girlfriend's clothing store is trashed by thugs and she leaves to Guangzhou. Jun hires thugs to attack Four and get the combination to his safe.
Jiu'er returns and sees Qi in the hospital. As she's telling Qi that they never slept together, Qi dies. Jiu'er tries to call Dong's phone on the street and he passes her on his scooter. She runs after him and is hit by Jun's car. Jun puts her in his car and runs away. Four escapes his captors and discovers that Jiu'er is dead. Dong sees Jiu'er being taken in an ambulance and runs after her. Along the Yangtze river, Dong finds Jun and tells him to leave and never come back. Jun apologizes. Dong enters a trance state as he reflects on the loss of his parents and Jiu'er, as the words his dad used to say play in his mind.

## Cast

* Li Jiuxiao as Dong Zi
* Miyi Huang as Jiu'er
* Yu Ailei
* Lu Yao
* Baoliang Sha as Four

## Production

Director Jiazuo Na met Guan Hu at the 2017 Shanghai International Film Festival. The festival funded the film via venture capital, and Guan served as supervisor for the movie.
This is director Jiazuo Na's debut feature film.
The film's original title, Gaey Wa'r, translates to "street kid" in Sichuanese.

## Release

The film premiered at 2021 Cannes Film Festival as part of the Un Certain Regard section. Prior to its debut it was acquired by Cercamon.
It released theatrically in China on June 16, 2021, and received a limited release in the US on July 21, 2021.
The film was released on Blu-Ray in June 2024, distributed by Dekanalog.

## Reception

The movie received 3.5 stars out of 4 from RogerEbert.com and characterized the film as a neo-noir. Writing for the New York Times, film critic Glenn Kenny selected it for NYT's Critic Pick.