After the spectacle of his historical martial-arts epics, Hero and House of Flying Daggers, Zhang Yimou returns to the simplicity of modern life: the quixotic quest of a taciturn Japanese fisherman -- cutting through miles and miles, if not thousands, of Chinese red tape, reminiscent of The Story of Qiu Ju -- on behalf of his estranged dying son. He -- the father or the filmmaker, either one -- makes the quest more complicated than need be, longer and slower as well, but the sentiment (or sentimentality) is always straightforward. With Ken Takakura, Shinobu Terajima, Qiu Lin, Jiang Wen, Li Jiamin, and Yang Zhenbo. (2005) — Duncan Shepherd
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