Heart Warming Movie of Two Cultures With Father and Son Issues

DVDs:

	• Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles Ken Takakura, Shinobu Terajima Sony Pictures, 2007 average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Heart Warming Movie of Two Cultures With Father and Son Issues

This is a very touching small movie about a man in Japan who has been estranged from his son who is now dying. The son rejects his father and the father is left talking to the daughter-in-law who can't seem to get her husband to reconcile with him. The father discovers his son was a filmmaker who was in the middle of making a documentary in China about a village in Yunnan province. The father rushes to the village to complete the son's documentary. A situation similar to the Japanese family's is occurring in the village, a young boy is basically left to fend for himself while his father has not acknowledged him and doesn't take care of him. How these stories are resolved is a very touching story. A small, well made movie by Zheng Yimou who seems to be trapped making very good but not as fulfilling martial arts movies now. This a throw back to the movies that made him famous and great.

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A real Sleeper!!

I found this movie on IFC independent film channel and watched it there. It was so very well done that I had to own it. My friends have been viewing it and they are going to buy it also.
Give it a try. Don't be turned off by the idea of sub-titles. This movie is a real SLEEPER.
Should have been shown in theatres all over the country.

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powerful & beautiful

Another wonderful father/son film from China (watched Shower last week and highly recommend it), beautiful in its portrayal of estranged/separated family members, and the journey undertaken to reconcile and reconnect. I especially enjoyed the intermix of two Asian cultures, Japanese & Chinese. It was intriguing listening to the translator characters moving back and forth between the two languages all the while I was reading subtitles in English. It really enhanced the impact of differing cultures. I also really liked the scenes of both rural coastal Japan, and rural mountainous China, places and sights we seldom have in mind here in the West when we think of these two great nations. Of course, these aspects are personal bonuses; the real treasure is the story itself, of which much has been eloquently stated by other reviewers. I can't recommend it enough for those who want to see inspiration and redemption that is common to humans whose culture appears so different from our own.

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We should look eastward

A wonderful movie about redemption.
An elder man attempts, as an act of reconciliation with his dying son, a difficult mission. His task carries him to majestic areas of China where he meets majestic Chinese villagers. This is a film of natural beauty, of generous emotion, of graceful spirit, of determined love. . .
There is a striking whistle in this movie; a whistle I will never forget--a plaintive call, I will remember it as, to humankind: Be, and act, this way.

Not for everyone

This is a truly touching movie about a father's love for his son, which he can only demonstrate vicariously from time to time. Rooted deep in Japanese cultural foibles, this movie is partially in Japanese, partially in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles. Give it a try.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Takada, a Japanese fisherman, has been estranged from his son for many years, but when the son is diagnosed with terminal cancer his daughter-in-law, Rie, summons him to the hospital. When his son refuses to see him, Rie gives him a videotape about the work his son was doing on a documentary film in a remote region of China?s Yunnan province. Still troubled by the relationship, Takada decided to complete his son?s work in part to develop an understanding of his son, and in part to do something for him. Once in China, a series of obstacles and relationships bring him unexpectedly closer to both an understanding of himself and of his son.

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