What a beautiful movie!

Apparently Zhang Yimou has dropped off the radar for me somewhat since the regrettable "House of Flying Daggers," because I had no idea this movie even existed until recently. Being a big fan of Zhang Yimou--and a great personal believer in his ability to be at his best when he is painting simple, intimate character portraits such as this--I knew I had to check this one out.

And what a wonderful, touching movie it turned out to be. The casting could not have been better, and Ken Takakura held up the entire movie with the sheer grace of his dignified, private suffering and constant struggle to relate to other people--everyone from his lovely and compassionate daughter-in-law to the Chinese people he's enlisted to help him in his journey, though it's nearly impossible for him to communicate with any of them... and yet it's through them that he finally discovers his long-lost connection to family and fatherhood. It's an absolutely beautiful way to convey Takata's journey and transformation, because it reveals that maintaining meaningful bonds with people does not require a common language... merely compassion, and a desire to do what's right.

Given the general simplicity of Zhang Yimou's smaller character-driven films, his stories tend to be more about the journey than the destination. Plot twists are rare and, fittingly, would seem out of place in such movies. But the story of "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles" rarely ended up where I thought it was heading, and was all the better for it. It led to a genuinely powerful conclusion that had me in floods of tears, and wanting to applaud as the credits rolled... even though I was sitting alone on my couch when I watched it.

I can't recommend this movie highly enough. It's a true return to form for Zhang Yimou, and I absolutely rate it right up alongside "To Live," "The Road Home," and "Raise the Red Lantern."