It's all in the family. Director ZHANG Yang's father was a respected director in Beijing. Academically trained, Zhang won the special Critics' Award in Toronto (in the TIFF, the world's largest non-award international film festival) with "Xizao" (The Shower). Unlike another Zhang, this young director stays true to his soul continuing to make simple, heart-warming movies about the common people of China rather than trying to impersonate Hollywood big blockbuster directors. In a recent interview on "Lou ye gui gen", he intimated about the difficulty of marketing a small art-house movie in a country with no art-house cinemas. "Although my movies have more comedy elements and are more accessible, they are still art house movies. I care more about showing my characters' lives and personalities than the box office."
"Getting home" (note the subtle use of "getting", not "coming" or "going") is first and foremost a road movie, an international favourite genre that has seen many top notch films: "The Straight Story", "Nashan naren nagou", "Central Station", "Kikujiro no natsu". Although "Getting home" may not be among the most brilliant ones, it does not suffer much by comparison. And I wouldn't call it a "black" comedy ("The cook, the thief, his wife and her love" IS a black comedy) it's more like "grey".
The first ten minutes sets the tone for the movie and is worth recounting in some detail, with a SPOILER warning (although I'm not even sure that something in the first 10 minutes in a 2-hour movies can technically be considered a spoiler). It starts with a close up of Zhao gulping down a glass of booze before heading to the bus with his buddy who is dead drunk, on a long trip home after a few years as migrated labourors. Next, we see a "relieving stop" when, according to the well established custom, men go to the bushes on the left and women on the right to relieve themselves. His buddy stays on the bus and is later accused by the returning women for being a peeping Tom, a storm in a tea cup that Zhao quells by apologizing profusely on behalf of his buddy. Then come the highway robbers, declaring in a most professional manner their intention, before coming down the aisle, equipped with metal detectors, to collect contributions. When it comes to Zhao's turn, he insists firmly that they can take his money but not his buddy's. When asked to explain why, he says that the robbers should give his buddy due respect. "He's dead", says he.
The rest of the movie, taking it from there, is about this man honouring his promise to his buddy (probably spoken after a few drinks too many) "If you die here, I wouldn't let them cremate you, but will personally carry your body to your home town to be buried, in accordance with traditional custom".
Throughout this journey, the audience will encounter a rich pageant of various people (not to mention numerous ingenious ways of carrying a dead body) most of whom are kind-hearted. There are moments of hilarious fun as well as heart-breaking poignancy, with as many a variety of beautiful music to match, from playful to languid. Just as varies and beautiful is the cinematography of the landscape en route.
ZHAO Benshan is a natural, making Zhao one of the best-loved characters in any movie that you have ever seen. For those who must have big names, there is a segment with HU Jun.
"Getting home" (note the subtle use of "getting", not "coming" or "going") is first and foremost a road movie, an international favourite genre that has seen many top notch films: "The Straight Story", "Nashan naren nagou", "Central Station", "Kikujiro no natsu". Although "Getting home" may not be among the most brilliant ones, it does not suffer much by comparison. And I wouldn't call it a "black" comedy ("The cook, the thief, his wife and her love" IS a black comedy) it's more like "grey".
The first ten minutes sets the tone for the movie and is worth recounting in some detail, with a SPOILER warning (although I'm not even sure that something in the first 10 minutes in a 2-hour movies can technically be considered a spoiler). It starts with a close up of Zhao gulping down a glass of booze before heading to the bus with his buddy who is dead drunk, on a long trip home after a few years as migrated labourors. Next, we see a "relieving stop" when, according to the well established custom, men go to the bushes on the left and women on the right to relieve themselves. His buddy stays on the bus and is later accused by the returning women for being a peeping Tom, a storm in a tea cup that Zhao quells by apologizing profusely on behalf of his buddy. Then come the highway robbers, declaring in a most professional manner their intention, before coming down the aisle, equipped with metal detectors, to collect contributions. When it comes to Zhao's turn, he insists firmly that they can take his money but not his buddy's. When asked to explain why, he says that the robbers should give his buddy due respect. "He's dead", says he.
The rest of the movie, taking it from there, is about this man honouring his promise to his buddy (probably spoken after a few drinks too many) "If you die here, I wouldn't let them cremate you, but will personally carry your body to your home town to be buried, in accordance with traditional custom".
Throughout this journey, the audience will encounter a rich pageant of various people (not to mention numerous ingenious ways of carrying a dead body) most of whom are kind-hearted. There are moments of hilarious fun as well as heart-breaking poignancy, with as many a variety of beautiful music to match, from playful to languid. Just as varies and beautiful is the cinematography of the landscape en route.
ZHAO Benshan is a natural, making Zhao one of the best-loved characters in any movie that you have ever seen. For those who must have big names, there is a segment with HU Jun.