Customer Reviews

Together

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This may very well be one of the most fabulous and wonderful movies I've ever seen. By the end of the movie you'll have filled buckets, but these are not the kind of emotionally draining tears as you'd have from, say, To Live by Zhang Yimou. This is a movie about hope, companionship, life, passion, triumph, and love.

But let's not forget music. Actually, it didn't even take half a minute (honestly) of watching this movie for me to realize that it was going to blow me away. Even while the opening credits are rolling, the imagery is spectacular, and the music already has you under its spell. It's gentle, yet it has some sort of... well, "energy" to it. Chen Kaige follows through excellently, keeping this energy throughout the whole movie.

Anyway, one thing is for sure. This movie is about feeling. Writing a review of this movie is futile because by the time you manipulate the English language enough to try to convey the feeling this movie leaves you with, you're left with something too confusing to decipher.

So just watch this movie, and feel it.

After reading some of these other reviews, I'm just not convinced we're all reviewing the same film. This is a fantastic film. The characters are wonderful, the music is outstanding and the story will have you laughing and crying. It's a touching story of the love between a poor father and son in a class conscious society. The father loves the son and is willing to sacrifice everything in order for his son to become a famous violin player. It's a wholesome film (and no the girl is not a prostitute, she's a night club worker that juggles rich boyfriends) and one that I'm so very glad I didn't miss! It's probably one of the best movies I've seen.

The film begins with beautiful violin music played by a 13 year old Chinese boy, Xiaochen. In one of the early scenes he plays his violin music to ease the pain of child-birth by a young lady in the next room. Xiaochen's father is a humble cook in a popular local restaurant who is very proud of his son's unique violin playing talent. The father sacrifices his life-savings and security by moving to Beijing to secure violin-lessons to enhance the son's natural talent. The father over-hears two people praising the musical abilities of an eccentric violin teacher during a performance at a music academy. The father is subsumed by his goal to develop the skills of his son, an unpolished violin-playing child prodigy. The teacher-pupil relationship is strong but eventually is strained due to a contest of wills when Xiaochen proves his violin skills are equal (perhaps greater) than those of his teacher. The dad realizes his son requires a more challenging environment and seeks to find a professor with more musical knowledge and vision. There are several themes that are thoroughly explored within this film. The first is ... will Xiaochen eventually understand and appreciate how much his dad has personally sacrificed for his son to succeed? Another theme reveals how two provincial people manage to survive in Beijing, a major hustling and bustling city. The third theme explores whether or not Xiaochen will achieve the discipline required to polish and refine his natural violin playing skills to become a prize-winning performer and bring honor to his father.

When they first arrive in the railroad station at Beijing, the crowds are overwhelming. The dad appears to a country bumpkin who eventually develops street-wise savvy and survival skills in the city. He finds a job as a bicycle-riding courier. While searching for an apartment with his dad, Xiaochen sees a self-centered beautiful young lady, on whom he develops an adolscent crush. It turns out she is a resident at the same apartment building where they live. The young lady has male admirers who shower her with gifts but unfortunately, one special boyfriend eludes her. When she sees him out with another woman, she creates a scene in which she contrives to be the betrayed wife, feigning Xiaochen to be their son whom the father appears to have neglected. This is one of many amusing scenes in the film.

One of the major conficts in the film revolves around Xiaochen's huge adolescent blunder, he sells his one valuable possession, his violin, to buy Lili, the love of his life, a mink coat she desired. The remainder of the film attempts to resolve the problems created by this major catastrophe. New tensions arise between father and son. The father through hook and by crook obtains a position for Xiaochen with one of the finest music professors at the academy. Xiaochen proves he has the moxie and discipline to further refine his violin playing. The climatic resolution is reached as Xiaochen proves he deserves the trust, faith and love his father has given him. The musical performances are explosive and riveting. This film is a feast for the five senses. This film spins with psychological undertones and is well balanced with equal and deeply satisfying heart-warming resolutions to conflicts. It is a wonderful story of how a thirteen year old boy develops into a loving and talented human being. Erika Borsos (erikab93)

The best character portrayed in this movie, in my opinion, is the father. His manners may not be refined or polished, yet his love for his son Xiaochun is so utterly unconditional & unselfish. With minimal education and music training, he however does know a good violinist when he hears one (watch the scene where he wholeheartedly cheers for the already established & famous young violinist's performance after he sneaks in the concert), and that's why he seeks out Prof. Yu for his son. Yeah, he could be manipulative at times, but he is simply behaving like any other ordinary parent who wants the best for his child.

The scene in which the father went to the music shop looking for the old violin just breaks my heart! Anyone who has played the violin long enough knows how attached violinists are to their instruments. It's like the extension to the player's heart; losing it is no less serious than losing part of your soul & memory.

I always regard the violin sound to be the closest, of all the musical instruments, to the expressions and feelings of the human emotions. At the end, perhaps that's what gives Xiaochun the courage to choose what's really important and closest to his heart.

This was without a doubt one of the most visually and emotionally beautiful films I've ever seen. The storyline, themes and characters were relevant in any culture. The imagery and filming techniques were superb. The music was well chosen not only to match the emotional tone of each scene, but also to serve as additional metaphors for the main themes of the film (for example, "Consolation" by Liszt.) In fact, the quality of the musical performances would be reason enough to see this film even without the intriguing and moving plot.

I was impressed with the very real and not over-done acting abilities of the major players, which fortunately came through even when watching the film in another language with subtitles, and was critical to carry off this heart-tugging story without seeming sappy.

Best of all, the movie made me cry and laugh and cry some more, and I literally sat on the edge of my seat during the highly emotional and cleverly-filmed climax. I left the theater feeling drained and yet refreshed, and it made me appreciate even more the wonderful opportunities that I've had growing up in this country, and the sacrifices that parents in any land make for their children. I have purchased the film as one I know will give me a lift anytime I watch it.

What I enjoyed most about "Together" is the subtle way emotions were portrayed - not raw and straight in the face of the viewer.

You have to look for them and note scenes that reveal key elements that are stiched together at the final stages of the film.

Chen Kaige has accomplished the highest calibre of creativity in film making (co-writing an original - as opposed to adapted - screenplay, directing it and playing an important role in it, that of Professor Yu).

There are many comments one could make about the beautifully portrayed characters of this film. However, the character I found most intriguing, is that of Professor Yu.

Music Professor Yu is possessive and controlling not only with the fate but also with the emotions of young violinists, although not in an obvious and dictatorial way but rather snobbishly and slyly. He lives and breathes through their success which he nurtures, their gratitude which satisfies and stimulates him, whilst he dominates their fate and their launch to stardom. In doing so, he is not a team player and has no time for anyone's emotions other than his own.

We are introduced to his character in a scene with the last prodigy boy he patronised. "They are not applauding for your performance. They are applauding for your reputation" he says, the insinuation being "...which I built for you."

A far more subtle scene is played in Professor Yu's upmarket Beijing flat, after Xiaochun's father shared the story of his son (which we do not hear at this stage) and which left Professor Yu's wife in tears. Professor Yu then says to her with a dry eyed smirk "he relly got to you, didn't he" insinuating an rock solid emotional insulation on his part, that shelters his goal and his possessive ambition.

When the boy is chosen by Professor Yu for the great night, the aircraft to stardom is once again lined up on the runway and Professor Yu wants no co-pilots. He asks Xiaochun's emotionally fragile father to leave Beijing and presents him with a ticket for this purpose. But the humble father, for reasons of his own, had already booked his ticket to the backwaters of forgoten provincial China, having compromised with the fact that his life there and that of his son in the metropolis of Beijing, would take diametrically opposite courses that would be unlikely to ever cross each other.

The catalyst, comes towards the end of the film through the least likeable character, the girl violinist that competes with Xiaochun, also under the patronage of Professor Yu. Her revelation triggers a twofold effect: On the one hand the viewer's opinion of her changes radically, thanks to the dexterity of Chen Kaige's direction, and on the other, both childern achieve what they most wish for, leaving the possessive and controlling Professor Yu at the back seat of their destinies.

One more factor I appreciated in this and in other films by Chen Kaige is the duration. A richly told story spanning two full hours is ample time to develop the characters and allow for the moulding of the viewer's emotions at the very able hands of one of China's most gifted directors.

On a technical note, my version of the DVD contained no interview with the director, as one reviewer mentioned, or any other informative material, other than a simple trailer.

This film was quite emotionally wrenching, but ultimately, uplifting.

The relationship between father and son is touching and the story, as a whole, is certainly engaging.

I'm an East Asian Studies major in college, specializing in Chinese, and this was my favorite film we were made to watch in my Chinese film seminar. I liked it so much, I just HAD to go out and buy it, and even my parents, who know very little of Chinese culture, LOVED it and got a copy for themselves. I'd definitely give it the highest recommendation.

The movie makes the argument that no great art can be made without feeling. Technical competence isn't enough. So it is that the violin playing in this movie, as well as the rest of the music (it'd be great if the soundtrack for this movie were available!), affects the hearts of those listening. The movie itself does this powerfully. You come to care very much about the violin student, his father, and the others who love the young boy. Also, you begin to understand that his violin isn't just a musical instrument: it's part of the boy's soul. And that Professor Yu's attempt to control his newest prodigy, is all the more dramatic and almost heartbreaking.

The perfect Father's Day present. I viewed this recently at the Tribecca Film Festival. The film tells a story of a young boy and brilliant violinist who is prodded by his father to reach success. The love and sacrifices shown between a father and son, music instructor and pupil and brother and sister (with a female neighbor) are captured with such finesse. This movie is a real tear-jerker, so have your tissues ready. Chen Kaige is brilliant in every way. Five stars are clearly not enough to represent the superior quality of this film.

Leaving far behind the bad memory of thrill-less thriller "Killing Me Softly" (and I call it "Slowly Too,") acclaimed Chinese director Chen Kaige came back with this impressive drama about a boy and his father in modern China. Though this will not gain the worldwide praise he got with "Farewell My Concubine" or "The Assassin," "Together" will regain the status he nearly lost with his preceding work.

And here is the story. Though a small boy, Xiaochun is a prodigy violinist. Leaving their hometown, he and his father Liu Cheng, determined to make him a professional, come to the crowded Beijing Station with a handful amount of money hidden in his cap, dreaming of the chance they might get there. But the reality is hard on them; the violin contest they counted on only gives the boy the fifth prize while one of the judges Professor Jiang knows that he deserves the first. But the boy has no money, which means he has no place there.

But the father stubbornly insists, and finally Proferssor (who lives with many cats) accepts the boy as a student. While living in the big city, the boy meets a woman living in his neighborhood named Lili, whose lavish lifestyle depends on the wallets of her many lovers (and she writes down the phone numbers of them on the mirror in pink lipsticks). While he comes to like her, and she him, Xiaochun gets a chance to be apprenticed in the house of commercially successful Professor Yu. But that chance also means the separation from his father.

What is great about the film is, I think, the acting of the two leads by the boy Tang Yun and the father Peigi Liu. They really look like father and son, and Peigi Liu superbly realizes the father's rather alarmingly ardent attitudes toward his son and his talent. In short, he does whatever he has to do in order to give his son a success. The strong bond between them, and how the boy will react to it, is the thing which will revet your eyes.

As is the case with recent Chinese cinemas, "Together" reflects modern Chinese social conditions influenced by money. And that is why the ending of the film -- which I for one find too sentimental. At least, I can say that many of us will think the flashbacks are too abruptly introduced for us to believe in its contents. And though I like the boy's final decision, the last scene slightly gives me an impression that the characters (Lili, Professor Jiang and the father), who have been so far lively and three-dimentional, are reduced very flat existence among the sugary conclusion. The final act needs more time to develop fully, especially after the introduction of the one-dimentionally drwan rival pupil Lin Yu, who really looks like a monster hungery for fame.

But as a father-son drama "Together" is a great achievement, always believable and affectionately depicted. Plus, good acting and good music are always welcome.

Some trivia: Professor Yu is played by Chen Kaige himself. And Lili's Chen Hong is his real-life wife. The boy Tang Yun is really a violinist, and at the national contest (where Chen Kaige came to search the suitable actor to play the lead), he really ended up with the fifth. But the actual sound you hear is dubbed by the violinist Li Chuan Yun, who appears as Professor Yu's pupil who is scolded after the concert.