Together (Rental)

When people think of Asian cinema they can be forgiven for thinking all their films are fast and furious martial arts epics that span the centuries and feature fights with supernatural or mythical abilities. But this isn’t always so, as this film will attest.

Together tells the story of a boy and his father. The boy is a violin prodigy with whom the father has struggled to find the money to teach him in the years since their mother left. The father, Cheng, is a gangling and eccentric fellow who works as a cook and can’t dress himself. That’s where his son Xiaochun comes in. In his thirteenth year, Cheng decides his boy must go to Beijing to study under a great teacher as he is limited out in the provinces.

"Here in Beijing it’s easier to find a bride than housing…"

Upon their arrival, Cheng struggles to find work in The Forbidden City and Xiaochun discovers a world he never knew in city life. They find a dingy one room apartment and their symbiosis continues as before, however Chun is growing up and noticing girls and not so interested in his violin anymore. In trying to get Chun the best help, Cheng must take whatever work he can, regardless of what it is or how hard and this causes friction with Chun who appears ungrateful for his father’s sacrifices. Chun has also befriended a young woman, Lili, upon whom he develops a crush and this in turn causes the final straw regarding the relationship between Chun and Cheng. Chun has also befriended his violin teacher, and Cheng, wanting only the best for Chun, fires him before moving on to a more prolific and famous teacher. But it is here that Chun will learn some of the biggest lessons of his life, though not all regard his musical abilities. For here he will learn the long-held secret of his father, Chung.

Shot in magnificent style by director Chen Kaige (who also stars as Professor Yu, Chun’s second teacher), this is a lyrical portrait of modern China. A bustling, overcrowded city and rural provinces of simplicity contrast heavily against each other and helps develop the backdrop for the main events between the players. It’s a telling portrait and one told with good humour and a unique flair that some Asian directors have that allows this culture so very different from ours in ‘the West’ to relate with our experience.

It’s a warm film and beautifully played by the five major actors, who all create angled depths to their characters that buoy up the story. The characters are interesting and described with warmth and an infectious enthusiasm for their parts that brings this essentially quite simple story to delirious life. Director Kaige is responsible for a few other films that make the transition to the West in exacting fashion (The Emperor and The Assassin, Farewell My Concubine) and here he maintains that equilibrium brilliantly. Together is wholeheartedly recommended for anyone after a warm and funny film that still easily incorporates moments of drama and matters of a more serious nature.

This beautifully shot film is delivered here in the cinema aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 16:9 anamorphic violins. The transfer is clean and bright and while a few film artefacts pop up from time to time, there’s nothing outwardly distressing. Lines are crisp and edges are sharp, colours are buoyant and fresh and shadow detail is also good. The only real grudge was with a long black vertical scar running down the screen for much of the 93rd minute, caused by a scratch on the film stock.

An expansive Dolby Digital 5.1 surround setup brings us the exquisite music of this film in excellent style. With the film revolving so much about the violin, the soundtrack demanded decent sound and here it is thankfully pure and deep with a subtle underscoring from the subwoofer. The score itself is very Chinese and traditional in origin, though it comes across as friendly somehow and suits the film perfectly. It’s another credit to Zhao Lin for another excellent score.

There’s a strange audio popping at 81:20 that is mildly disconcerting, but it doesn’t last for long and may even be missed by some viewers.

Dialogue is all in Mandarin of course, though I could easily pick out the few words that I know. Subtitles are unobtrusive and intelligent, not giving us endless repeats of the same word when as an audience with even half a brain we know what is being said.

First up we have some interviews with director Chen Kaige, his wife and actor Chen Hong who plays Lili and as bit part performer known more for his musical abilities, Li Chuanyan. Each is in halting English and our speakers answer text questions. The longest is Kaige’s at 6:41 with Hong’s the shortest at 1:33.

A photo gallery is next and this holds 14 pics around one eighth of the screen size. Hardly worth it really, because we can’t see much. Even the artwork on the front of the case is bigger than it is on my 68cm TV.

The trailer follows and this would appear to be the international one as there’s no dialogue and plenty of those sort of sentences that appeal to American audiences; ‘A boy with his destiny in his hands…’ You know the kind I mean.

Madman Propaganda clocks in next with a broad range of trailers in Amandla!, Russian Ark, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, Swing, Calle 54 and Molokai.

And there’s an Easter egg of sorts, though it is just the cleverly hidden DVD credits. Not wanting to include them as an Easter egg, from this point on I shall only refer to them as Keester eggs. There you go. You were in at the start when I coined a phrase (July 2004).

Together didn’t seem to me to be something I would necessarily enjoy, but from the first moments I was hooked and happy to be dragged along on this endearing and sweet portrait of a father and son living the hard life in modern Beijing. Performances are brilliant and Tang Yun as the blooming Xiaochun plays an awkward teen in wholly believable fashion (while looking like Asia’s answer to Daniel Radcliffe from Harry Potter).

Well worth the look for anyone after a genuinely touching film that doesn’t get too sloppy or sentimental.