Together With You Movie Review:


Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige rebounds from his camp British thriller Killing Me Softly with this involving but flawed father and son drama. Xiaochun (Tang) is a 13-year-old violin prodigy in the provinces, brought to Beijing by his father Cheng (Liu) to find a teacher. Through sheer persistence, he gets Xiaochun a place with Professor Jiang (Wang), an old world-style teacher who lives with a menagerie of mewling cats. Meanwhile Xiaochun befriends a neighbour lady (Chen) who happens to be a high-class prostitute, and Cheng sets his sights on a more competitive and commercial professor (played by director Chen). But can destiny smile on a country boy without connections?

Chen directs the film with a natural yet brightly colourful tone that draws us into the story and characters--humour abounds, as do intricate interrelationships and lots of narrative complications. The central theme of art versus commerce is handled lightly and cleverly, making way for more intense father-son issues, while a deep love of music infuses the film from top to bottom (and is rather reminiscent of the Chinese chapter in The Red Violin). Where it falters is in the final third, when all this has to come together in a flare of overwhelming emotion and teen rebellion, which is simply too overstated and sappy to grab us. And the big cathartic finale, while well-conceived and seriously touching, is played out in a maddeningly manipulative way. There's also the problem of the first-time actor Tang in the pivotal role; he's mostly quite good as a surly boy, but struggles with the scenes of emotional openness. The surrounding cast is superb, adding textures to the film that make it intriguing and entertaining. A powerful film that should have been much better.

Rich Cline

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