Thankfully Zhang, Yimou is back to make another deeply moved and typical "Zhang's Style" movie and it is wise for him to stop producing further martial art films.
Ken Takakura is acting as Takada, a Japanese fishman whose son is diagnosed incurable disease but refuses to see him for the past unsolvable conflicts between them. Following the clue left on the video tape made by the son, Takada decides to travel thousands of miles from Japan to Li Jiang (Beautiful River) of Yun'nan Province in China, to complete his son's unfinished wish - to shoot a local drama played by local artist Li, Jianmin. After he arrived, a series of unexpected difficulties and events happened between him and local tour guide Qiu, Lin, love child Yangyang and opera actor Li, Jiamin among the other local residents, lead Takada to deeply think and comprehend the relationship between him and his son, and during this process his son finally forgive him from the past.
Audience can not only enjoy the familiar rural scene brought by Zhang, Yimou, but also the superb genuine performances brought by those actors who are just acting with their real names(and Zhang has done this before in previous movies) apart from Ken Takakura. The dialogues are superb, they can be amused, grieved, touched and thoughtful.
It is a rare movie that I can't wait to give my thumb up half-way before the end, and a must-see film can make you smile and giggle with the tears and weeps.
Ken Takakura is acting as Takada, a Japanese fishman whose son is diagnosed incurable disease but refuses to see him for the past unsolvable conflicts between them. Following the clue left on the video tape made by the son, Takada decides to travel thousands of miles from Japan to Li Jiang (Beautiful River) of Yun'nan Province in China, to complete his son's unfinished wish - to shoot a local drama played by local artist Li, Jianmin. After he arrived, a series of unexpected difficulties and events happened between him and local tour guide Qiu, Lin, love child Yangyang and opera actor Li, Jiamin among the other local residents, lead Takada to deeply think and comprehend the relationship between him and his son, and during this process his son finally forgive him from the past.
Audience can not only enjoy the familiar rural scene brought by Zhang, Yimou, but also the superb genuine performances brought by those actors who are just acting with their real names(and Zhang has done this before in previous movies) apart from Ken Takakura. The dialogues are superb, they can be amused, grieved, touched and thoughtful.
It is a rare movie that I can't wait to give my thumb up half-way before the end, and a must-see film can make you smile and giggle with the tears and weeps.