Review of Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005) by Jebus C — 30 Mar 2009

After going martial art all the way with "Hero" and "House of the Flying Dagger", "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles" is a nice return for Zhang Yimou to the low-key drama genre that he is good at. Almost similar with "Not One Less" in terms of tonality, Yimou uses unknown amateur cast to tell the touching story of Gou-ichi Takata (Ken Takakura), a 60-ish Japanese man who made a journey in order to recover his relationship with his son. The journey brings him riding alone for thousands of miles to Yunnan to capture the performance of Chinese artist playing "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles," while he must overcome the barrier of language while on the same time facing new adventure.

The movie is effective on telling the story about the importance of relationship. The usage of amateur cast makes the movie works, because everything seems real, almost like a documentary in some point.

It is also in a way, showing how differences Zhang Yimou in his movie now compare to previous movie, especially in his view of China government. While in previous movie, Zhang Yimou seems to position himself as opposition to the government, In here he seems like already having peace with the government. That view somehow gives problem in this movie. Showing Chinese authorities giving a very warm welcome to Takata to come to their jail to give him access to shoot a performance video seems like a bit too much. And in some point, seems like the movie want to direct itself to a tear-jerker.

But if you are fans of Zhang Yimou, can suspend your disbelief, can stand for the tear-jerker side of the movie, you might be touched by this movie.