Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005)

80% of critics liked it
(75 reviews)
63% of users liked it
(13,967 ratings)

On the heels of such extravagant historical swordplay epics as Hero and House of Flying Daggers, Mainland Chinese director Zhang Yimou returns to the reins to tell this intimate tale of an aging father who attempts to remedy a longstanding rift with his grown son. Summoned to Tokyo by his… More On the heels of such extravagant historical swordplay epics as Hero and House of Flying Daggers, Mainland Chinese director Zhang Yimou returns to the reins to tell this intimate tale of an aging father who attempts to remedy a longstanding rift with his grown son. Summoned to Tokyo by his daughter-in-law, Rie (Shinobu Terajima), village fisherman Gou-ichi Takata (Ken Takakura), arrives at a city hospital to find his son, Ken-ichi (Kiichi Nakai), bedridden by liver cancer. Though Gou-ichi attempts to use the visit as a catalyst to heal a decade-long dispute between the pair, stubborn Ken-ichi rejects his father's attempt at reconciliation outright. Subsequently handed a videotape by Rie before departing back to the countryside, Gou-ichi returns home unsuccessful in his efforts to build a bridge of peace between himself and his ailing son. Upon watching the videotape, a research project exploring the Chinese folk arts that was shot by Ken-ichi in the Southern province of Yunnan, Gou-ichi is oddly affected by the onscreen failure of his son in convincing well-known opera singer Li Jiamin (playing himself) to perform the titular song, a classic operatic piece espousing the values of friendship. Now determined to travel to Yunnan and videotape the performance that his son could not, Gou-ichi embarks on a life-changing quest that will not only give him a greater understanding of the relationship between himself and his own son, but set into motion a healing process that will also have a profound impact on the troubled opera singer and the man's long-lost illegitimate son as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 47 min.
Directed By: Yimou Zhang
Written By: Yimou Zhang, Jingzhi Zou, zou Jenghi
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Sep 1, 2006 Limited
On DVD: Feb 6, 2007
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

Critic Reviews

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The themes are universal (if a touch corny), the rugged Chinese scenery is stupendous, and the performances are touching.
Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic
What remains most vividly after Riding Alone For Thousands of Miles, however, is not its story but its world--the immersion in that world of a foreigner, not a polo-shirted Yank but a stiff-necked Japanese. And it is all overseen by a Chinese director.
Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic
It sounds like a slight plot, and it is, but it is rich in detail that makes up for the simplicity of the story.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
It's a masterful little film, and, thanks to Zhang's seasoned hands, it's subtly heartfelt but never manipulative.
John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press
A father takes a spiritual journey from Japan to China to help mend a decades-long rift between himself and his dying son. The lessons learned en route are as profound as they are simple.
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Relatively speaking, minor Yimou, yet it retains that extraordinary cinematic sensibility and superbly observed humanity that characterizes all his work.
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
A profound example of unashamed feeling expanding across cultural barriers
Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
This may be one man's story but the themes are epic.
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
It feels rare to watch, as if it were too private to be seen in public.
Maria Garcia, Film Journal International
The director fails to overcome a script that ignores the backstory of the characters, and that agonizingly details minor subplots.
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
The story may be sentimental, but Yimou layers it by adding cultural clash to the generational ones.
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
From real-life opera singer Jianin to travel agent Lin Qiu and youngster Zhenbo Yang, the cast is the genuine article...
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
...gorgeously photographed and, like Babel, a subtly organized commentary on the ways people strive to communicate.
Jack Garner, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Zhang is one of the world's great filmmakers, both in technique and in his rich humanity. Riding Alone will move you.
Phil Villarreal, Arizona Daily Star
Yeah, yeah. Cue the violin music. But also grab a tissue, because the film levels far more of an impact than you might expect.
Stuart Klawans, Nation
Sometimes, when the right movie people come together, a blatantly commercial decision actually strengthens the artistic impulse, as you can see from Zhang's filial treatment of Takakura in Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
The scenery is spectacular, and the movie does boast fine performances by both the stone-faced Takakura and scene-stealing newcomer Yang Zhenbo.
John Wirt, Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Ken Takakura's memorable performance, occasional light comedy and striking Chinese scenery don't keep Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles and its big message from being ponderous and affected.
Sean Means, Salt Lake Tribune
The movie's message is a little too Hallmark Hall of Fame, but Zhang's observant eye neatly captures the idiosyncrasies of Chinese life and the heartbreak in Gouichi's journey.
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
It's the kind of story that shows more than it tells, a story that's forged in the spaces that exist in between characters and spaces.

Read all 20 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Bob S

Mushy-Mushy.
Christopher M

Just to start off, let's call this the little Asian film that thinks it can. Certainly it does, and it almost succeeds (and does succeed on some levels), and it's awful pretty looking along the way, but it lacks a certain something. In this it reminds me of another recent… More
Just to start off, let's call this the little Asian film that thinks it can. Certainly it does, and it almost succeeds (and does succeed on some levels), and it's awful pretty looking along the way, but it lacks a certain something. In this it reminds me of another recent Asian film: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring - both had a lot of potential and some good acting, and some potent (if almost overbearing, at times) imagery, but lacked the execution to get the film where it needed to be, it just sort of flounders somewhere in the middle. Granted, to be fair, I liked Riding Alone For Thousands of Miles a lot better - it had far more redeeming factors; for example, the wonderful performance of Ken Takakura really anchors the film and gives you a reason to keep on. As well, the film picks up significantly once the plot of Yang Yang and his father comes into play. If more time had spent on that it would have strengthened the main plot of Takata and his dying son. Anyway, this is a good film, it's definitely worth watching, but it definitely wasn't all that it could have been due to some sloppy storytelling.
Bruce B

I'm still trying to figure out, WHY. Why what you ask, why I continue to watch this bloody movie, I mean theres no blood in the movie, just an expression, Guy wandering around trying to do good for his dying son, but tends to piss people off
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles", Takata(Ken Takakura) has been estranged from his son, Ken-ichi, for the past ten years and is living in a remote fishing village. When he gets a call from his daughter-in-law, Rie(Shinobu Terajima), that his son… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles", Takata(Ken Takakura) has been estranged from his son, Ken-ichi, for the past ten years and is living in a remote fishing village. When he gets a call from his daughter-in-law, Rie(Shinobu Terajima), that his son is in the hospital, Takata ventures to Tokyo to see him but he refuses to see his father. Not entirely deterred, Rie gives Takata a tape of some footage that his son shot for a documentary on Chinese mask opera but could not get a key performance because the singer was ill. When Ken-ichi is diagnosed as having terminal liver cancer, Takata resolves to go back to the same Chinese village to videotape the performance his son missed. But this is complicated by the singer being in jail for three years for assault...[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Directed by Zhang Yimou, "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles" is a beautiful, emotionally powerful movie with genuine emotions that carefully demolishes the notion of stoic masculinity. The message of the movie is to not keep one's head in the sand. It is about how a person affects the world by simply being a part of it. In short, this is the kind of movie that Steven Spielberg bungles with alarming regularity. [/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]And there is a political subtext if you are looking for it...[/font]
Panta O

This Chinese / Japanese drama film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Ken Takakura won San Diego Film Critics Society Award as Best Foreign Language Film in 2006 and Best Actor Award (Ken Takakura) and in 2007 Best Asian Film Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards... with a reason! Not… More
This Chinese / Japanese drama film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Ken Takakura won San Diego Film Critics Society Award as Best Foreign Language Film in 2006 and Best Actor Award (Ken Takakura) and in 2007 Best Asian Film Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards... with a reason! Not as lavish as Hero and House of Flying Daggers this movie is a wonderful journey of late understanding and redemption between a father and dying son.
Lesley N

Yimou Zhang directed film about a reserved Japanese father who travels to China to complete a film for his estranged and dying son. Ken Takakura is excellent as the withdrawn, non-Chinese speaking father seeking his son's forgiveness and a good story, However the remarkable… More
Yimou Zhang directed film about a reserved Japanese father who travels to China to complete a film for his estranged and dying son. Ken Takakura is excellent as the withdrawn, non-Chinese speaking father seeking his son's forgiveness and a good story, However the remarkable helpfulness of everyone Takakura comes across - officialdom, translators, prison guards, an entire rural village - was a little too good to be true, and did made me wonder how much a Chinese Government stamp of approval is affecting the director's work nowadays
FanGirl B

A tearjerking emotional ride.