Last night as I was enjoying the fruits of my labor (previous post gives explanation), I decided to watch a movie I have had around for about a week. The movie is titled, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. This is a beautiful movie. Beautiful in landscapes, in emotion, and the relationships between the characters. It is amazingly raw and real. Here is a review I copied from another blog, A Movie Every Day:
Yimou Zhang, Chinese-born director of Jet Li's "Hero," delivers a deeply moving and introspective drama in Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. Featuring an elder Japanese father portrayed to classic, stoic perfection by Ken Takakura, the story concerns Mr. Takata's discovery that his long-estranged, telejournalist son is in a Tokyo hospital dying of liver cancer. When his son refuses to see him, his daughter-in-law slips him a tape of his work which ultimately inspires the elder Takata to travel to the beautiful Chinese province of Yunnan to fulfill a promise to film a local folk opera. In the process, Takata faces nearly insurmountable government challenges and the imprisonment of the lead singer in order to attempt to produce a video he hopes will allow he and his son to reconcile before his death. The result is a culturally stimulating drama that touches the heart with vibrant characters and performances.
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles is a powerfully moving drama that touches the heart with great characters and vibrant performances. For USA audiences it brings greater understanding of both Chinese and Japanese culture especially when we are reminded that the Japanese and Chinese have long had a relationship similar to but worse than the British and the French. For long periods of their history there has been no love lost between the peoples of these nations along with vast periods of war and mutual disdain. Mr. Takata knows not a word of Mandarin Chinese, and it is often funny to see Lingo slip into English trying to get his point across to Mr. Takata who seems also to know very little if any English.
Spectacular settings illustrate the geographical and topographical diversity of this region of China rarely visited by westerners who favor, historically, the northeastern and southeastern regions of this vast country. Very little of the film actually takes place in Japan though there is a taste of Rei driving her father-in-law through Tokyo to see his son in the hospital. The film leaves a lasting and indelible impression for those who have become estranged from members of their family be they parent-child or even sibling-sibling relationships. The message is simple, take the time needed to resolve the differences, but do not wait too long because one never knows how long one has left to live. Anything can happen. Mr. Takakura does a brilliant job in showing the tortures on the mind of the senior Takata as he works tirelessly to capture the story of Lord Guan for his son and earn back his son's affections. Fortunately, the story proves out that while this may have been a most noble intention on his part, working to ensure the love of our loved ones prior to necessitating a last minute efforts, is probably a better route to go.
I believe this gives you a good idea of what the film is about. I don't normally well up with tears during a movie, but this one really got to me. I think the ultimate message within the story is to not let words go unsaid to someone you love because you may never get the chance again. One scene presents this very clearly when Takata looks enviously at another (Li Jamin, who is the opera singer that has been imprisoned) because he (Li) is so free to show his heartfelt emotion for his son. Takata finds Li to be so lucky to be able to do this, to express such raw emotion and not hold back. I believe this expression of love is the main theme this movie gets across to the audience.
I highly recommend this film. Subtitles are in English.
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