I didn't catch the beginning.
After my business lunch at Tang restaurant, I was informed of a press preview of Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles at the Guangzhou Movie Company. Why not, since it's so close.
I went to the venue, only to find that the first reel of films hadn't arrived yet.
The movie started with Ken Takakura asking for another translator.
I was speechless after going through the whole film.

The couple of emotion-stirring moments are so well-crafted, I feel numb nevertheless.
The numbness was there even during the shots in which Ken Takakura shed tears facing the distant mountains.
Only when the camera focuses on the weeping faces in the prison did I start getting uneasy.
The shot is kind of familiar, isn't it? Remember the faces in the audience of "Commendation Meetings of Heroes and Model Workers", which are regularly featured on CCTV news?

Maybe it's time to stop expecting anything from the 5th generation of Chinese directors, despite the fact that they always consume the largest chunk of your attention?
Chen Kaige indulges in his ambitious fantasy, looking down to this mortal coil up in the clouds.
Neither is Zhang Yimou's feet on the ground.
Riding Alone presents a naive and peaceful world, a harmonious society (HARMONIOUS SOCIETY, I guess I did get the point).
There are no hardship, no hatred, no fury, no frustration, only the pure, innocent touching mood.
"We should unveil our masks and face each other truthfully." This is probably the tag line of the movie.
But the moment I was prepared to unveil the mask, I saw a new one.
Why are all these "maestros" so distant with us?
No matter hermetic or ambitious (this is pretty much the case with The Promise), they're drifting away from reality.