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SYNOPSIS __________
Plot:
From three-time Academy Award nominated director Zhang Yimou
comes a moving story of one man's journey across China's heartland.
For the first time in many years, TAKATA Gou-ichi (TAKAKURA
Ken) 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 (TERAJIMA Shinobu) had telephoned to
tell him that his son, Ken-ichi (NAKAI Kiichi) 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. What Takata
sees on the tape, Rie hopes, will help him get to know his
son again.
Takata plays the tape and learns that Ken-ichi is studying
a form of Chinese exorcising 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
colour 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.
DETAILS__________
Studio:
Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date:
September 1, 2006
RELATED LINKS__________
OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL SITE: Japan
http://www.tanki-senri.com --- CLICK
HERE
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