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Zhou Yu's Train (2004)
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Reviews Counted:56
Fresh:23
Rotten:33
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: Despite some beautifully framed images, this mood piece, told in a fractured fashion, is confounding and, ultimately, unsatisfying.
Theatrical Release:Jul 16, 2004 Limited
Synopsis: Gong Li, star of such epics as RAISE THE RED LANTERN and JU DOU, is unforgettable as the title character in ZHOU YU'S TRAIN, the poignant story of an unusual love triangle set in the Chinese... Gong Li, star of such epics as RAISE THE RED LANTERN and JU DOU, is unforgettable as the title character in ZHOU YU'S TRAIN, the poignant story of an unusual love triangle set in the Chinese countryside. Zhou Yu is an impulsive woman who makes porcelain pottery for a living, painting each one exquisitely. After meeting shy poet Cheng Ching (Tony Leung Ka Fai), she starts visiting him, taking a two-hour train ride twice a week from Sanming to Chongyang. On that train she is pursued by Dr. Zhang (Honglei Sun), a country vet who is intrigued by both her and a porcelain vase she has made. While Cheng Ching remains tentative, unable to completely commit to her and his poetry, Zhou Yu's burgeoning friendship with Zhang threatens to turn into something more. Cowriter/coproducer/director Sun Zhou has crafted a beautifully alluring film in ZHOU YU'S TRAIN, set among the lush green countryside of China. One particularly gorgeous scene involves Zhang and Zhou Yu searching for a lake that Cheng Ching has compared to his lover. The complex story is told in nonlinear fashion, with scenes from the past converging onto the present in repeated ways that shed new light on the characters and their relationships. Gong Li is outstanding in a dual role, her eyes dancing across every scene. In only his second film, Honglei Sun shows remarkable depth. Wang Yu's stunning cinematography and Shigeru Umebayashi's haunting score add yet more wonder to this softly bittersweet film. [More]
Starring: Gong Li, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Sun Honglei, Chen Quing
Starring: Gong Li, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Sun Honglei, Chen Quing
Director: Sun Zhou
Director: Sun Zhou
Screenwriter: Sun Zhou, Cun Bei, Zhang Mei
Producer: Huang Jianxin, Sun Zhou, Bill Kong
Composer: Shigeru Umebayashi
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
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Reviews for Zhou Yu's Train
See Zhou Yu’s Train for the interesting Chinese scenery, or see it to feast your eyes on the always beautiful Gong Li, but don’t see it for the drama
Li fails to stoke much heat in Sun Zhou's pretentious and symbolic love triangle.
It just may be a movie that has difficulty transcending national borders.
[Zhou Yu]'s contradictory impulses, as well as a convoluted narrative structure, make Zhou Yu's Train a rough ride.
The whole thing would be pretty painful if not for the presence of Gong, who makes some of it watchable.
Most, I suspect, will walk out of the theater wondering why they had to work so hard for so little reward.
When the sum of this film's parts are measured, it is nothing more than a celebration of the exquisitely beautiful Gong Li.
A knotty, dreamy paean to romantic longing, Zhou Yu's Train is at once ravishing and precise.
Zhou Yu's Train looks good, but there's no denying that there's very little lurking underneath its pretty surface.
Has a tiny little point -- living solely by one's emotions can be a painful time-waster -- but it makes that point within a needlessly tricky structure and with too much time spent on images that amount to pretty, poetic filler.
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