Xiaos Weg

The positive things are all you can imagine and more. The acting is believable, the casting just right, the music is spectacular as are the performances, and the story is nice with a little surprise beginning slowly half way thru and blossoming near the end. Except for that there are no real unpredictable moments. The interplay between the story and music is accomplished masterfully. I remember listening to many of those selections as a boy and how the emotions in the music generated tears. The same emotions are here and yet amplified by the conditions in the lives of the people and the needs that drive them. You know the story: a peasant father whose son is a violin talent and who sacrifices everything to move to a big city so the boy can have advanced instruction and rightfully achieve fame and fortune. The boy's mother died when he was a baby and the only thing she left him was a violin, the same one he plays now and cherishes because of her. His talent is recognized by a master teacher who long ago has lost the woman he loved and has withdrawn from society with the exceptions of caring for stray cats and teaching untalented students - for his survival. There is a nice minor theme in the relationship between the teacher sinking and the student rising. A secondary theme develops between the boy and a woman he sees and meets at the train station. She is a man chaser and the boy sees beauty and fun in her beginning with an argument with her boyfriend who she kisses on parting. It turns out that she and the boy live near to each other and he plays violin for her. Because of her, the father wants to change teachers and convinces an up-scale teacher to work with the boy. The teacher reluctantly accepts; however, the boy doesn't want to leave the first teacher. Another energy to drive the plot.

Negative things, which likely trigger the PG label are, in my opinion, minimal. The boy has pictures of women he places in his music books. At first you are to think he is a naughty little boy; indeed, the father accuses him so, and yet you realize eventually that the pictures represent the mother he never met. The boy is enamored by the woman he meets in the train station; he even helps her prepare a party for her boyfriend; and goes with her when she shops. The father gets angry with him; hits him, likely for the first time; takes the picture of the lady away; and the boy hits back, unacceptable in his culture. Also, some of the women are portrayed as mean in their verbal attacks and this includes a young female violinist. The movie should be fine for any child who can read or understand that Chinese dialect. I'd like to see it again and I'll buy the DVD when it is released.

This is a wonderful film. On the surface it's about a musically gifted 13 year old boy from the country going with his father to seek fame and fortune. Underneath, it's about hundreds of things. Just like Tous les Matins du Monde it's about music but also about how people lose the love of music through the events that befall them. What I notice about "Together" (He ni zai yi qi) is the theme of ownership -- how it eludes those who seek it in music. The acclaimed music teacher, Professor Yu, reminisces in class on how much he loved music, how his love of Vivaldi flourished during the Cultural Revolution despite the threat he was under. But now at the height of his fame he does not enjoy music any more; he only enjoys power. The boy's other music teacher has lost his love of music by becoming dispirited and his life has become decrepit. But the film has many other themes. It could be about the inarticulacy of adolescence, especially one burdened with impossibly difficult feelings. It could also be an allegory about China. I watched it as "Together" with English subtitles, but one sensed that in Chinese it had other layers of meaning -- the notion of the scholar as venerated in Chinese society, for instance. There are some things not quite realized and the ending is soft-centered, but the acting by the son and especially his father is gripping. It's a film that would repay repeated viewings.

He ni zai yi qi (or Together) is the stirring story of a young violin protege, Xiaochun, competing in the cutthroat world of Chinese classical music. Xiaochun's father dreams only of his son's success and goes to great lengths to accomplish this goal. Each character is developed and interesting and viewers will find themselves sympathisizing not only with Xiaochun, but with each person he comes in contact with. Director Chen Kaige weaves unique images together with a heartbreaking soundtrack to give this movie a definite feeling of realism. The acting by Tang Yun (Xiaochun) and Liu Peiqi (Liu Chen)is heartfelt and endearing. This is another example of quality Chinese-made cinema worth missing a few Hollywood run-of-the-mill flicks for. This is a definite don't miss.

The kid and his father do a great job making this work. The plot twist is very powerful. The musicianship is incredible. If you don't cry at the end, you're made of stone... I don't care how cynical you are.

Movie does make use of several clichés about music teachers, but the funny thing is, a lot of music teachers are that cliché! And the classical music world is very political, as portrayed. And great musicianship IS a function of more than just fast fingers, as portrayed. The toughest part of this is how a country bumpkin learned to be that good in the first place. Who was his teacher?

Anyway, I highly recommend it.

I didn't have many expectations for this film having long since lost my patience for subtitles and slow-moving foreign films. This film was a very pleasant surprise. A beautifully rendered story about the sacrifices we make for art, the sacrifices parents make for children, and the sacrifices teachers make for their students. I found myself thinking about the larger questions in life as I watched Han ni zai yiki--the struggles of the young protagonist to become a man, the heart-breaking dilemma that allows his father to become one as well, and the ways in which we lose our ways in life, and luckily how the entry of a new love (in its platonic sense) can get us back on the path.

At its center, Han ni zai yiki is the story of a father and his son. Never have I seen this relationship told with such honesty and impact. Instead of a perfect father giving pearls of wisdom to a son eager for his approval, we see an imperfect man doing the best he can for a son who is not necessarily appreciative.

It is sentimental, but that doesn't stop it from being thought-provoking, or from teaching the viewer something he or she is likely to have forgotten in this age of kung-fu special effect sequences and digitized actors.

In the U.S. at least, we've been saturated with ever-dumber plot lines, plasticized breasts, and explosions to emphasize every character realization. It's unusual to go to the cinema to be treated to a real story with complex and realistic characters in difficult situations that actually have some bearing on our lives. Together was a breath of fresh air.

I hope that the negative opinions expressed earlier don't stop anyone from seeing this film. Although I'd waited four years to see the sequel to the Matrix, I'd have to say, without a doubt, Han ni zai yiki is the best film I've seen all year.