RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES, 2005, China / Hong Kong / Japan, 107 min.
Language(s): Mandarin
(Subtitled)
Genre: Drama
Release Data: February 2007
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Director(s): Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers, Hero, Raise the Red Lantern)
What It's About: Gou-ichi Takata, a taciturn fisherman from a remote Japanese fishing village, has always had trouble communicating emotions and has been estranged from his son, Ken-ichi for many years. When his daughter-in-law, Rie, calls from Tokyo to say that Ken has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Takata immediately hastens to his son’s bedside – but Ken refuses to see him. Rie, hoping to give the older man a glimpse into his son’s life and work, gives him a rough-cut of a documentary about rural Chinese folk opera that Ken was working on. Feeling that he cannot repair their relationship karma in person, Takata decides on an alternative: he will go to Yunnan and complete his son's film.Once in China a series of obstacles and relationships bring him unexpectedly closer to both an understanding of himself and of his son.
The film reveals Ken’s passion for rural Chinese folk opera, and particularly the elusive Li Jiamin, a famous Chinese Opera star who plays himself in the film, and who is the star of the masked opera that gives this movie its name – the story of a person who journeys a great distance on behalf of a friend. Ken was not able to catch Li on camera and the star turns out to now be in jail for assault resulting from drink. Despite his own difficulties with the language and the always-amusing short-comings of his interpreter, Takata manages to convince the local bureaucrats of the sincerity of his wish to film Li as a tribute to his dying son. He gains access to the prisoner, but when he explains his story to Li the singer breaks down and is unable to perform. It turns out that he himself has a son whom he has not seen for eight years. Takata decides to visit the village where the boy lives and re-unite this father and son. But this project too reveals unexpected twists of fate. Nonetheless, Takata has found the gateway to the appreciation of goodness in both himself and others – which seems to be the main point of the film.
What to Look For: Pay attention to the variety of challenges, both emotional and physical, that face Takata on his adventure in China. Note the way the director reveals the emotions of the characters. And enjoy the juxtaposition of reality and appearance in such scenes as the one where one of the bureaucrats suggests that Takata find a substitute to sing for Li since the role is traditionally performed wearing a mask and – well, who will know…. Beyond the story of a sort of idealized China, you will enjoy the spectacular scenery which is captured with particularly gorgeous cinematography.
Why It Matters: This is the perfect story of a taciturn, unforgiving father whose last minute realization of just what his estrangement from his son really means sets him on an odyssey of discovery in which the goodness of others becomes his own path to awakening. The idea of healing one’s own emotional shortcomings through contact with a foreign culture’s folk art is a delightful concept that allows for some wonderfully comic moments and helps to make this a warm and affecting film on the theme that it is never too late to open your heart. And indeed, by the end of the story, our hero is
full of appreciation for all those who have helped him along the “thousands of miles” of his journey.
Themes: Asian
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