Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2006)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 75
Fresh: 60 | Rotten: 15
Doesn't reach the heights of Zhang Yimou's best, but this is still a heartwarming tale of love and forgiveness from the acclaimed Chinese director.
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 24
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 4
Doesn't reach the heights of Zhang Yimou's best, but this is still a heartwarming tale of love and forgiveness from the acclaimed Chinese director.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 14,134
Movie Info
On the heels of such extravagant historical swordplay epics as Hero and House of Flying Daggers, Mainland Chinese director Zhang Yimou returns to the reins to tell this intimate tale of an aging father who attempts to remedy a longstanding rift with his grown son. Summoned to Tokyo by his daughter-in-law, Rie (Shinobu Terajima), village fisherman Gou-ichi Takata (Ken Takakura), arrives at a city hospital to find his son, Ken-ichi (Kiichi Nakai), bedridden by liver cancer. Though Gou-ichi
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Cast
-
Ken Takakura
Gou-ichi Takata -
Kiichi Nakai
Ken-ichi Takata -
Shinobu Terashima
Rie Takata -
Li Jiamin
Li Jiamin -
Qiu Lin
"Lingo" -
-
Yang Zhenbo
Yang-yang -
-
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All Critics (78) | Top Critics (26) | Fresh (60) | Rotten (15) | DVD (7)
The themes are universal (if a touch corny), the rugged Chinese scenery is stupendous, and the performances are touching.
Top CriticWhat remains most vividly after Riding Alone For Thousands of Miles, however, is not its story but its world--the immersion in that world of a foreigner, not a polo-shirted Yank but a stiff-necked Japanese. And it is all overseen by a Chinese director.
It sounds like a slight plot, and it is, but it is rich in detail that makes up for the simplicity of the story.
It's a masterful little film, and, thanks to Zhang's seasoned hands, it's subtly heartfelt but never manipulative.
A father takes a spiritual journey from Japan to China to help mend a decades-long rift between himself and his dying son. The lessons learned en route are as profound as they are simple.
Relatively speaking, minor Yimou, yet it retains that extraordinary cinematic sensibility and superbly observed humanity that characterizes all his work.
A profound example of unashamed feeling expanding across cultural barriers
This may be one man's story but the themes are epic.
The director fails to overcome a script that ignores the backstory of the characters, and that agonizingly details minor subplots.
The story may be sentimental, but Yimou layers it by adding cultural clash to the generational ones.
From real-life opera singer Jianin to travel agent Lin Qiu and youngster Zhenbo Yang, the cast is the genuine article...
...gorgeously photographed and, like Babel, a subtly organized commentary on the ways people strive to communicate.
Zhang is one of the world's great filmmakers, both in technique and in his rich humanity. Riding Alone will move you.
Yeah, yeah. Cue the violin music. But also grab a tissue, because the film levels far more of an impact than you might expect.
Sometimes, when the right movie people come together, a blatantly commercial decision actually strengthens the artistic impulse, as you can see from Zhang's filial treatment of Takakura in Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.
The scenery is spectacular, and the movie does boast fine performances by both the stone-faced Takakura and scene-stealing newcomer Yang Zhenbo.
Ken Takakura's memorable performance, occasional light comedy and striking Chinese scenery don't keep Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles and its big message from being ponderous and affected.
The movie's message is a little too Hallmark Hall of Fame, but Zhang's observant eye neatly captures the idiosyncrasies of Chinese life and the heartbreak in Gouichi's journey.
It's the kind of story that shows more than it tells, a story that's forged in the spaces that exist in between characters and spaces.
A meticulously crafted film in which nothing is ever forced or overstated. There's a grace and subtlety that pervades the film and quietly impresses.
Its relentless sentimentality soon turns disingenuous.
Fathers and sons can't understand each other in Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, a simple theme in a movie that is simply breathtaking.
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Movie: ID: 287865001 Title: Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles Release Date: 2006-09-01 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 2 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (Qian li zou dan qi) (DE)
- Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (Qian li zou dan qi) (UK)
