RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES

This movie made me want to hug my dad. =)

Mr. Tanaka and his son Ken-Ichi haven't spoken to one another in ten years. Now, Ken-Ichi is ill, confined to the hospital for tests, and when he hears his father has come to Tokyo to see him, he stubbornly refuses to let him. By nature a stoic man, not accustomed to expressing his emotions, Mr. Tanaka seeks a way to reach out to his son. He finds it when he learns of Ken's passion for and study of Chinese Mask Opera. A year ago Ken-Ichi travelled to a mountain village in China to film a great player of these traditional Chinese musicals, and promised to return in a year to film him performing the opera "Riding Alone For Thousands Of Miles." With his son unable to fulfill that promise, pops Tanaka decides to leave his Japanese fishing town home to fly to China, travel its mountain roads, and film the performance himself.

The journey and the task prove to be more difficult than anyone could have expected. When apparently impossible obstacles arise, including the language barrier, Tanaka refuses to be turned back, enlisting the aid of a colorful collection of interpreters, bureaucrats, and villagers. In quiet moments, he realizes that he is retracing his son's path in China, facing the same solitude, challenges, and experiences Ken-Ichi would have encountered, and through them, feels closer to his son than he has in many years. It *is* sad that he must go so far to make contact with his son, but the voyage makes for a sweet, beautiful film that is populated with kindhearted characters, set against some magnificent vistas, and will surprise you with the power of some simple thoughtful moments of human connection and reflection.

God, I hope my teary-eyed soft touch talk isn't doing more harm than good here. Is there a better quick pitch for it...? Hrmmm...

Okay, how about... It's like LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (which you really must see, too!), only subtitled, in a different order, and sort of flipped... diagonally.

Or... It's KINda like if Matt Ward's "Chinese Translation" was a movie... That sorta works...

Oh, oh, I know! I told Rowan this when we were talking about the film—It's like Takeshi Kitano's KIKUJIRO (the movie's *way* better than the hokey voiceover in the trailer), only, without the gangsters, violence, and pedophiles. Yeah, that's the ticket!

=)

RIDING ALONE is currently playing at the Kendall (the last night is this Thursday) and West Newton cinemas.

It will make you wish you had an estranged father who lives in a Japanese fisherman's town, just so you could hug him.

Keep on keepin on~