Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005)

A Japanese father travels to China's Yunnan province in the place of his ailing son to film a famous folk-opera star.

Director:

Yimou Zhang

Writers:

Yimou Zhang (story), Jingzhi Zou (story)

Stars:

Ken Takakura, Kiichi Nakai, Shinobu Terajima

5 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Ken Takakura	...	Gou-ichi Takata
Shinobu Terajima	...	Rie Takata
Kiichi Nakai	...	Ken-ichi Takata (voice)
Ken Nakamoto	...	Electrician
Jiamin Li	...	Li Jiamin
Jiang Wen	...	Jasmine
Lin Qiu	...	Lingo
Li Bin Li	...	Director Li (as Bin Li)
Ziliang Chen	...	Warden Chen
Zezhou He	...	Village Chief
Zhenbo Yang	...	Yang Yang

Storyline

In a village of fishermen in Japan, Takata misses his son Kenichi, to whom he has been estranged for many years. When his daughter-in-law Rie tells him that Kenichi is sick in the hospital, she suggests Takata to come to Tokyo to visit his son in the hospital where he would have the chance to retie the relationship. However, Kenichi refuses to receive his father in his room, and Rie gives a videotape to Takata to know about the work of his son. Once at home, Takata sees a documentary in the remote village Lijiang, in the province of Younnan, about the passion of Kenichi, the Chinese opera, where the lead singer Li Jiamin promises to sing an important folk opera on the next year. When Rie calls Takata to tell that her husband has a terminal liver cancer, Takata decides to travel to Lijiang to shoot Li Jiamin singing the opera to give to Kenichi.

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Plot Keywords:

hospital | china | village | cancer | japanese | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Hong Kong China Japan

Language:

Mandarin Japanese

Release Date:

22 December 2005 (China)

Also Known As:

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

Filming Locations:

Lijiang, Yunnan, China

Box Office

Budget:

$7,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$18,314 (Hong Kong), 7 April 2006, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$36,295, 3 September 2006, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$251,585, 14 January 2007

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beijing New Picture Film Co.,China Film Co-Production Corporation,Edko Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was denied the Official Selection berth in Cannes.

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Goofs

In the village scene Mr. Takata has to move to the highest location to make a phone call. In the following scene however he can receive phone calls while at a banquet in the lower part of the village.

User Reviews

Beautiful film

Zhang Yimou's last two martial arts films had much to commend them, but, honestly, I'd trade ten such films for this. It was almost too much to hope for that the director would return to his earlier, humanist style of film-making that saw "The Road Home," "Not One Less" and "Happy Times" - but he has, and wonderfully so.

Ken Takakura, who has appeared in fine films such as "Poppoya" and "The Yellow Handkerchief," really shines here. It's his film all the way, and a wonderful tribute that Zhang chose to craft this film for him.

While the core of the film lies with the emotions of the characters, I should also point out that the cinematography here is splendid - there are shots that are as breathtaking as anything in "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers."