Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles:
September
1
, 2006
From three-time Academy Award? nominated director Zhang Yimou comes a moving story
of one man’s journey across China’s heartland. RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES
stars the legendary actor Ken TAKAKURA, and Japanese stars Shinobu TERAJIMA and
For the first time in many years, Gou-ichi TAKATA (Ken TAKAKURA) takes the bullet
train to Tokyo from the quiet fisherman’s village where he lives on the northwest
coast of Japan. His daughter-in-law, Rie (Shinobu TERAJIMA) telephones to tell him
that his son, Ken-ichi (Kiichi NAKAI) is seriously ill, and asking for his father.
But when he arrives in the city, Takata finds that Rie was not entirely truthful:
Ken-ichi has been hospitalized, but after years of painful estrangement, he still
refuses to see Takata. Crushed, the old man quietly slips out of the hospital, but
not before Rie gives him a videotape to watch. Rie hopes what Takata sees on the
tape will help him get to know his son again.
Takata plays the tape and learns that Ken-ichi is studying a form of Chinese folk
drama that dates back more than a thousand years. Ken-ichi had traveled all the
way to Yunnan Province in Southern China to see the famous actor LI Jiamin perform,
but the actor was ill and unable to sing. Li promised to sing the legendary song
‘ Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles’ from the literary classic, ‘ Romance of the Three
Kingdoms’ for Ken-ichi if he returns to Yunnan the following year.
Hoping to bridge the gap between himself and his son, Takata decides to find Li
Jiamin and videotape his performance for the dying Ken-ichi. As the old man begins
an odyssey into the heart of China, he encounters a number of strangers who color
his journey -- from well-meaning translators who guide him through China’s
idiosyncrasies, to prison wardens anxious to promote Chinese culture abroad, to
a young runaway with a complicated father-son relationship of his own. What Takata
discovers on his journey is kindness… and a sense of family he thought he had lost
long ago.
From three-time Academy Award? nominated director Zhang Yimou comes a moving story
of one man’s journey across China’s heartland. RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES
stars the legendary actor Ken TAKAKURA, and Japanese stars Shinobu TERAJIMA and
For the first time in many years, Gou-ichi TAKATA (Ken TAKAKURA) takes the bullet
train to Tokyo from the quiet fisherman’s village where he lives on the northwest
coast of Japan. His daughter-in-law, Rie (Shinobu TERAJIMA) telephones to tell him
that his son, Ken-ichi (Kiichi NAKAI) is seriously ill, and asking for his father.
But when he arrives in the city, Takata finds that Rie was not entirely truthful:
Ken-ichi has been hospitalized, but after years of painful estrangement, he still
refuses to see Takata. Crushed, the old man quietly slips out of the hospital, but
not before Rie gives him a videotape to watch. Rie hopes what Takata sees on the
tape will help him get to know his son again.
Takata plays the tape and learns that Ken-ichi is studying a form of Chinese folk
drama that dates back more than a thousand years. Ken-ichi had traveled all the
way to Yunnan Province in Southern China to see the famous actor LI Jiamin perform,
but the actor was ill and unable to sing. Li promised to sing the legendary song
‘ Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles’ from the literary classic, ‘ Romance of the Three
Kingdoms’ for Ken-ichi if he returns to Yunnan the following year.
Hoping to bridge the gap between himself and his son, Takata decides to find Li
Jiamin and videotape his performance for the dying Ken-ichi. As the old man begins
an odyssey into the heart of China, he encounters a number of strangers who color
his journey -- from well-meaning translators who guide him through China’s
idiosyncrasies, to prison wardens anxious to promote Chinese culture abroad, to
a young runaway with a complicated father-son relationship of his own. What Takata
discovers on his journey is kindness… and a sense of family he thought he had lost
long ago.