Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

There are a half dozen films that can change your life after one viewing. I felt this was such a masterpiece. A Japanese father who has learned to control his emotions discovers that his estranged son is dying of cancer. When he goes to the hospital room, the son won't let him stay. Yet the wife of the son is trying to reconcile father and son and lets it be known that the son adores classical Chinese opera.

Seeking a crack in which to connect emotionally with his son, the father then goes to China - where he does not speak the language - and seeks out a Chinese opera star so that he can film a production of "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles." Unfortunately, the opera star is now in jail, but that does not stop the father from trying to film the production in Chinese prison. The father's desperate struggle to do one last thing to connect with his son - a true act of love - transforms all who begin to come into contact with him...and in old age, the father learns the value of openness in emotions that had been so bottled up before.

Altogether, a wonderful film experience. Truly, I was shaken emotionally.

Zhang Yimou's Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles is a brilliant portrayal of the love that a father has for his child. Zhang uses the character of Takata to fuel this portrayal. Takata has such a profound inability to communicate with his son that he uses his daughter-in-law as a de-facto "interpreter" between himself and his child. During these "interpretations", Takata discovers that his son had promised to film a Chinese opera singer playing his most famous role. As an attempt at reconciliation, Takata goes to China to finish this task for his son, who is dying of cancer. In going to China, Takata seems to face an insurmountable obstacle: a foreign country where a different language is spoken. However, in a clever twist, this obstacle actually turns out to be an advantage for Takata, because he is used to dealing in an environment where he is unable to converse with others. Takata uses the skills he's developed to compensate for his communication deficiencies in order to find the person his son wished to film. When that person displays some relationship challenges with his own son, Takata takes it on himself to establish a connection between the opera singer and his child. In doing so, Takata finally establishes a bridge between himself and his own son.

While the story itself is intriguing, it wouldn't work without amazing acting from all the cast (particularly Ken Takakura as Takata), stunning cinematography, and a lyrical script. All of these elements are present in Zhang's other films, like Hero and Curse of the Golden Flower. It's a clear measure of Zhang's talent that he is able to abandon the historic epic form of those other movies and instead utilize these elements to create an intimate, emotional portrait.

Some viewers may be reluctant to view Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles because all of the dialogue is in Chinese. However, the movie (like its protagonist) transcends language to movingly convey its core emotions. It's rare to find a moving portrayal of such basic emotions in any language, much less a portrayal that is also entertaining. For that reason alone, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles is a film that deserves a large audience.

After a solid start with a remarkable series of films in the early 1990's, Zhang Yimou has lately become something like the Martin Scorsese of Chinese cinema. For every character-rich, personal film he makes--the kind of film that made him a household name--he now mounts two or three big, action-packed epics tailored for maximum commercial success. Happily, RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES, is of the former variety.

Ken Takakura is a quiet force of nature as he struggles to take unexpected and often inscrutable steps to atone for unnamed offenses against his estranged son, now dying of liver cancer. This leads him on a quixotic journey to remote parts of China. His character, Takata, attempts to videotape a masked performance that is missing from his son's cherished collection of Chinese folk operas. The plot, simplified, is this: "one thing leads to another . . . ." In other words, this is a road movie, purely but not ever simply.

It is a melancholy film, but one with moments of deep comic relief. Takata is left to the devices of a tour guide and "translator," Lingo, whose broken Japanese is so mixed up with his broken English as to make him virtually useless. When language barriers arise (as they constantly do), Takata must phone his original translator, Jasmine, who had to bow out when the quest ran into obstacles. At one point, Takata and Lingo find themselves in a remote village, where they have encountered an apparent impasse with the village elders. When Lingo is unable to translate the villagers' wishes to Takata, there is a hilarious parade of the entire party, up the steps of the terraced village to the highest rooftop--the only place in town where there is a cell phone signal.

This kind of story, where the narrative walks a razor's edge between sentimentality and earned emotion, requires a sure hand at camera placement. In this respect, Zhang, who started out as a cinematographer under Chen Kaige, is one of the most assured directors alive. His close-ups occur mainly on Takakura, whose face is all restrained pain. With the exception of two (related) scenes of explosive emotion, the camera tends to move away and give the characters--and audience--a respectful distance.

This Sony Pictures DVD boasts an ultra-crisp image to complement the perfectly executed photography. Set mostly in Yunnan Province, with its rolling green moon-scapes and forests of vertical rock formations, RIDING ALONE might have been a series of postcards in the hands of another director. But unlike the candy-colored cinematography of Zhang's most recent three action epics, the reds, greens, and browns that make up almost the entire color palette are muted with just enough gray to keep one's attention on the characters, not the backdrop.

Like Zhang's film NOT ONE LESS (1999), this is a story of an insular character who thrusts himself out into the wide world and finds that values follow actions. Takata, a near-recluse at the start, finds faith, friendship, compassion and forgiveness in his journey. It is a rare privilege to take that journey with him.

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