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Together
Han ni zai yiki
review by Gregory
Avery, 20 June 2003
Seattle International Film Festival
2003
In Together, the latest
film from Chinese director Chen Kaige, a father (Liu Peiqi) takes
his son, Xiaochun (Tang Yun), a gifted violinist, to Beijing, where
he will be tutored and have a chance to participate in string
competitions. Xiaochun at first receives instruction from Professor
Jiang (Wang Zhiwen), who has a flowing mane of black hair and, while
listening to Xiaochun play for the first time, sits back, eyes
closed, listening while the thumbs of his folded hands vibrate in
time with the music he's hearing. Jiang lives with many cats in
comfortable neo-squalor, but that is not the reason why the father
eventually maneuvers Xiaochun to the attention of the more
high-powered, empirical Professor Yu (played by the film's director,
Chen) -- Yu can build a career for the boy and get him into
international competitions. He insists, however, that the boy live
at his place, with his family, full-time, meaning that Xiaochun and
his father will have to be separated.
One gets the distinct impression
that Chen is trying for something more slight and disarming, here,
after two serious misfires, the huge Emperor and the Assassin
and Killing Me Softly, the latter Chen's would-be
English-language film debut (which, to paraphrase one of Chen's own
comments, did not turn out as expected). Together takes an
overtly sentimental tack towards the end, and its simple -- rather
too simple -- message is: people must be sincere and maintain their
emotional ties. Xiaochun plays difficult pieces (Paganini, Vivaldi,
and a Tchaikovsky violin concerto, among others) with virtuotic
ease, but Jiang tells him he must learn to "play from the
heart". Problem is, we never find out how Xiaochun feels about
playing music or about the violin (except that the instrument is a
legacy from his mother). Xiaochun is a cipher, and he's pretty much
kept that way, a blank slate onto which we can read any feelings.
When he has to choose between remaining in the city or going back to
the country, it doesn't seem to make much difference, and the
choice, for a child with musical gifts, seems bizarre -- does his
father want him to stay in the sticks and play for the cows? (Unless
it's to make the cows contented, but, the last time I looked, Borden
did not have any dairies in China.)
Chen may be trying to get back to
his (rather than Xiaochun's) roots, which may be why the film has a
Western-versus-home country motif running through it: Western
buildings, products, and ways-of-living figure decidedly in almost
every scene, from Prof. Yu's Modernist apartment and choice in
clothing to a plot turn where Xiaochun sells his violin (!) to buy a
fancy coat for Lilli (Chen Hong), a woman he's taken a fancy to (she
happens to live right across from the flophouse the father and son
reside in), and a model who openly takes money from men so she can
splurge on clothes. (Images of mid-1950s Marilyn Monroe are
displayed, prominently, in her apartment.) Lilli comes to her senses
by the end of the movie; Chen, I'm afraid, does not.
Seattle International Film Festival:
Reviews:
Interviews:
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Directed
by:
Chen Kaige
Starring:
Tang Yun
Liu Peiqi
Wang Zhiwen
Chen Kaige
Chen Hong
Written
by:
Chen Kaige
Xue Xiaolu
Rated:
PG - Parental
Guidance Suggested.
Some material may
not be appropriate
for children.
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