Metro Cinema Society: Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

Qian li zou dan qi

Hong Kong/ China/ Japan 2005, 107 min, 35mm, Dir: Zhang Yimou
Mandarin & Japanese with English subtitles

In a departure from his massive historical-fantasy epics Hero and The House of Flying Daggers, filmmaker Zhang Yimou, one of China's most revered and acclaimed filmmakers, returns to the more intimate scale of his earlier work with the touching and poignant Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. Gou-ichi Takata (Ken Takakura), a fisherman from a Japanese seaside village, is called by his daughter-in-law, Rie, to the bedside of his son Kenichi, who is dying of liver cancer. Gou-ichi and Kenichi have not spoken for ten years and, despite the gravity of the moment, this visit is no exception; from his sickbed, Kenichi refuses his father entry. In a last ditch effort to broker a connection between them, Rie clandestinely passes Gou-ichi a videotape. Kenichi is a musical ethnographer, and the tape contains his unsuccessful attempt to capture the finest singer in the Yunnan region of China performing a traditional song of friendship entitled "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles." In the video, the singer (Beijing Opera performer Li Jiamin, playing himself) asks Kenichi to return and record his performance another time. Gou-ichi, wanting to forge a connection with his son, takes it upon himself to travel to the village and record the performance. With no command of Mandarin, and even less of Chinese music or geography, Gou-ichi embarks on a Herculean journey through China to find and record the singer. Master filmmaker Zhang Yimou weaves seemingly disparate characters and locales into a profoundly engrossing and touching film. Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles is distinguished by Takakura's elegant, bravura performance and Yimou's stunning visuals, meditative pace and eloquent approach to narrative.

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