He ni zai yi qi

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.

Here is fairly pleasant story of a 13-year-old violin prodigy and his financially-strapped father try to get the boy professional help to aid in the kid's musical career. The father is a bit on the pushy side but he has a good heart and he's pretty comical, too. The young teen is a likable kid and the other main characters - two of his teachers and the "big sister" - are all interesting people.

The dialog, as with many "foreign" films, is different from what we are used to hearing in North America and I, for one, find it appealing.

At almost two hours, this might be a bit long for most people to put up with subtitles, but I didn't find that a hindrance in keeping focused on this story. Along the way, you get to enjoy some excellent violin playing, too. People who like amiable-character stories and good music should enjoy this very much.

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.

I rent this movie because a promotion (pay 2 rents, take 3 movies), And what a surprise. OK, I don't wash to much "Chinise Movies", here in México people are custom to the American Movies, but renting these movie is a great option.

Is about a kid with so much talent (palying a violin) that his father does practically everything to help him become a star, but he is just a kid and plays because his father ask him. The different people that the kid knows and the way his talent is absorbing friends to help him is moving. The music in the movies is splendid, characters and performance of actors are great, and let you understand the way people live in china in the 80's. Contains no violence or aggressive scenes, quiet good scrip.

I don't know a movie that I can compare with this, sorry.

I enjoy the end, despite my friend said wasn't good enough, but if you like music and a familiar movie, this is a must see movie.

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.