Title: 周漁的火車 (Zhou Yu De Huoche)Romantic Drama, 93 mins, Hong Kong/China
Director: Sun Zhou
Starring: Tony Leung Kar-Fai, Li Gong, Sun Honglei
Rating: EXCELLENT!
A porcelain painter (as in artisan, played by Gong Li) takes the train twice a week to Chong Yang, quite a far distance, to see her lover boyfriend poet Chen Ching. Later she meets another guy, a veterinarian, Zhang Qiang (played by Sun Honglei).
—my short concise summary (also not wanting to spoil anything). For more, IMDB.
This film is beautifully shot. I'm finding that I'm really liking this sort of cinematic style. The story is "chopped up", sort of lots of flashbacks, but more like cutbacks to short moments, plus later it will all seem like sort of a flashback, with the addition of Xiu (also played by Gong Li—meaning: remember, different characters, just also played by Gong Li, don't get confused). But this cut-back style serves to show the theme of confusion: torn between the two lovers, the two new lovers trying to find out their love's previous loves..
Poetry is another prominent theme in this film. Two of Chen Ching's poems are recited multiple times. Lines that one character says are said by another in similar situations at different times. This film is truly a beautiful piece of cinematic poetry.
I would definitely watch this again. Have to return it back to the library tomorrow, though. Kinda wish I had watched it earlier, it was lying around my relative's house for a while, but the old film cover/poster art made it seem like it was erotic-heavy and would have made me feel uncomfortable about asking to borrow it. Newer poster art for comparison.
Highly recommended!
SFgate review (scroll down, after Zatoichi). And here's is a good review on IMDB you can read (the one titled "Train Painted On A Vase"). But I advise not reading too much plot summaries and reviews, and rather to just watch it. I usually go into films without having seen trailers and knowing much about the story and only on knowing if the films received good reviews/ratings.
And if you're into art house, foreign films, and Gong Li (superb performance!), this is a must-watch.
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