Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles |
| Original title | Qiān Lǐ Zǒu Dān Qí |
| Country of production | China , Hong Kong , Japan |
| original language | Standard Chinese , Japanese |
| Publishing year | 2005 |
| length | 107 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Zhang Yimou |
| script |
Zou Jingzhi , Zhang Yimou |
| production | Zhang Yimou |
| music | Guo Wenjing |
| camera |
Zhao Xiaoding , Daisaku Kimura |
| cut | Cheng Long |
| occupation | |
| |
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles ( Chinese 千里走單騎 / 千里走单骑 , Pinyin Qian Lǐ Zǒu Dān Qi , Jap. 単騎,千里を走る ) is a Chinese film director Zhang Yimou from the year 2005 . The film, which Zhang not only directed but also produced and wrote the script with Zou Jingzhi, was not shown in theaters in Germany.
action
Zhang wrote the main role especially for Ken Takakura . As a reclusive fisherman Gou-ichi Takata, he plays a father who has not spoken to his son ( Kiichi Nakai ) for years after breaking off contact in an argument. Only when the son becomes seriously ill does his daughter Rie ( Shinobu Terajima ) ask him to visit the son. In the hospital, however, he refuses to see his father.
Instead, Rie gives him a videotape with a recording of Li Jiamin , a Chinese opera actor. Kiichi Nakai promised Ken-ichi to visit again next year and then attend the showing Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles , a Peking opera based on a classic from the Three Kingdoms period .
Gou-ichi tries, initially reluctantly, later very determined, to complete a documentary in the footsteps of his son and he sets off for Yunnan to film the actor's performance.
However, the actor is in prison; Gou-ichi then tries to get permission to meet the actor and film his performance. As a foreigner who does not speak Chinese, he has to rely on the translation help of his interpreter Jasmine ( Jiang Wen ), whom he has to call over and over again on his mobile phone. Although he is repeatedly advised to give up his hopeless request, he does not want to travel back until he has received approval.
After he received the permit and Li Jiamin was finally able to play for him, he started to cry as it would remind him of his young son who cannot visit him in prison. Takata embarks on a journey through China that takes him to the actor's hometown, where he meets his nine-year-old son Yang Yang ( Yang Zhenbo ). He is supposed to accompany Takata to prison, but then Yang Yang runs away in the evening; only Takata follows him, but finds it difficult to communicate with him because he only speaks Japanese.
Despite the communication problems, he manages to get the prison guard, party officials and his travel companions on his side. Before Takata has a second chance to film the singer in prison and the recording is successful, his daughter calls him that his son has already passed away.
Much of the plot describes the father-son conflict between Takata and his son, but also between Takata and the opera singer's son, to whom he has a strong emotional bond at the end. Getting to know each other between Yang Yang and Takata is like getting to know his own son again, from whom he had distanced himself.
Reviews
The film received mostly good reviews. The work of the cameraman Zhao Xiaoding, who previously shot the Wushu film House of Flying Daggers with Zhang, was praised . In Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles impressed the calm landscape shots, which some critics are too long. The father-son relationship in the road movie-like film has been well worked out and presented by Ken Takakura.
“The film indeed covers that much territory, ranging from Japan's snowy northern coast to the arid canyons of southwest China. But it's an intimately focused tale about the most personal relationships and interactions, from which wider meanings about the human condition touchingly arise. [..] A little boring and obvious at first, "Riding Alone" builds legitimate, understated dramatic power as every issue that Takata confronts turns into a bonding opportunity with people of simple yet extraordinary good will. "
credentials
- ↑ cf. Movie reviews at rottentomatoes.com
- ↑ Film review Los Angeles Daily News ( memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Official site (English).