Together with You

Human feelings are universal whether you are a Chinese living in a crowded and vulgar country village or an American living in a comfortable and affluent suburban neighborhood. However, the experiences are different enough that there are subtleties in this Chinese film that only Chinese can truly appreciate.

I never wrote an online comment of a film before even though I have read a great deal. Unlike most of other films, comments on Chen Kaige's "together" is surprisingly divided into two extremes: love it or hate it. Maybe this observation prompted me to write something to express my feelings during and after watching this film.

I grew up in a small town in rural China, very much like the one shown in the film. My father isn't a "vulgar" peasant as the father in the film, and I wasn't a "prodigy" of anything by any measures either. The kind of strong character and sensitivity the kid showed is something I wish I had when I was a teenager. The incredible sacrifice and love the father showed in the film is also a bit surreal to me. In other words, my experience is much more real with little melodrama involved.

However, the film actually made me cry when sitting in the cinema, not just because of the melodrama and the music, more so because it made me miss my own father and remember many small moments between us that are not so much drama but only our daily experiences.

When I left cinema, I overheard a middle-aged American white couple in front of me making comments: "a cute little film, isn't it?" I can tell from the dialogue that they experienced different things when watching the film because they appreciate the details of ordinary Chinese life such as how the coal is used for heating tea. To me, those details are not novelties to appreciate, they WERE my existence and everyday experiences.

I will stop here not to violate the IMDB guideline. After all, everyone's experience is unique. Everyone has their ethos deep from their upbringing and culture. I am just glad that this film brings me a Chinese experience of love between a father and a son that I can relate to.

I have just seen this movie at a press screening here in Amsterdam and must say this was one hell of a movie! Hell in the positive way! Every time Xiaochung( my Chinese is rusty) ended his concert, I wanted to stand up and applaud!

Story: 13-years old young boy travels with his father to the big city.The father has one goal: to make his son this best violin player. He tries to get him the best professor, but that is not enough. In the real world you need more. The professor realizes this but in China honor is very important. The boy thinks he has failed, but later on he understands. Particular the role of the father was wonderful. He wants the best for his son but hasn't the means to make it work. Xiaochung also discovers another part of growing.

I very much liked this movie, maybe because I am fan of Chinese movies, maybe because I have been there. There is drama, humor, very good music and a piece of the Chinese culture in this fantastic movie. By the way, the movie is from the director of Farewell to My Concubine, need I say more?

I really liked this movie. I studied the violin for 8 years so I felt a strong connection to the film. The story is a touching tale about a child violin genius who goes to Beijing with his father and finds the best teacher he can. Truly the story is really about the love of a man for his son. The father shows the deepest emotion and devotion for his son throughout the movie. Unless your heart is made of stone and smaller than the Grinchs before it grew two sizes, you can't help but feel something for how much the son loves his father.

The music in the film is a nice selection of up-beat, touching, sentimental and refreshing. The emotion and message of feeling the music is executed with musical brilliance. The pieces are played exquisitely and even if your not into classical or violin you should still be entertained.

I realize this film may not be for some people or if your not in a particular mood. But if it sounds interesting you won't be disappointed in its poignant delight.

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.

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.