Zhou Yu's Train (Zhou Yu de huo che)(2002): Zhou Yu, a ceramic decorative artist, travels twice a week from her home town of San Ming to Chongyang to visit her boyfriend, Chen Qing, a government worker and budding poet. (6.5)
Director: Zhou Sun
Writers: Zhou Sun, Cun Bei (novel)
Stars: Li Gong, Tony Leung Ka Fai and Honglei Sun
Language: Mandarin (w/ English subtitles)
A very well made movie, all around. Photography-wise, it is stunning. The director and cinematographer understand that a picture worth taking is worth doing properly. The lighting, the colors, the use of depth-of-field in various scenes, the selection of locations, use of filters, all of it is brilliant. Acting is wonderful. Li Gong is at her best. Powerful, delicate, fragile, sentimental, all at the same time. The story is simple yet powerful and heartbreaking; compelling and all too human. It is told out of sequence and that's part of the mystery. As I said in the beginning, an all-around great movie. (The poems are probably more eloquent in Mandarin; still not bad in translation either.) My Rating: 8.0
