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Review by: Graeme Kay | Rating:
Two
TOUCHING story of a young Chinese boy's struggle to make the
grade as a classical musician in China.
Xiaochun is a 13-year-old violin prodigy who travels from a provincial
Chinese city to the capital of Beijing, where his father, Liu
Cheng, hopes to find him a teacher who can turn him into a world-class
musician.
Initial developments suggest that this will not happen - the
teachers in Beijing are expensive and the father has very little
money.
However, Xiaochun's talent is such that Professor Jiang, an experienced
but jaded teacher, is eventually persuaded to take on the young
maestro.
But his unconventional teaching methods and lack of commercial
ambition finally convince Liu Cheng that he must find a tutor
with a more impressive track record.
Subsequently, he persuades the more dynamic Professor Yu (played
by the film's director, Chen Kaige) to take on Xiaochun.
Meanwhile, Xiaochun has fallen under the spell of the enigmatic
beauty Lili, and she takes great delight in educating the naïve
teenager in the ways of the world.
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When Xiaochun is told that, in order to study under Professor
Yu, he will have to cut himself off from both his father and Lili,
his world begins to fall apart, and he begins to question his
commitment to music.
Kaige says that he was inspired to make this impressively scored
film after seeing a television programme about the real-life counterparts
of the father and son.
It is through these characters that he explores not only the
nature of father/son relationships, but also the opening up of
Chinese society to Western influences as the country continues
to free itself from the iron-grip of the Cultural Revolution.
Most pertinently, Kaige says that he wanted to show the way in
which Chinese parents, who were denied the opportunity to indulge
themselves in Western music - on any sort of level - are now pushing
their children hard to achieve the musical goals that they themselves
were unable to reach.
So much so, says the director, that the achievement of commercial
success is now so ruthlessly promoted that many talented young
musicians are losing their passion and appreciation for the music
itself.
As with all Kaige's films (which include Farewell My Concubine
and Killing Me Softly)
the production values and performances are of the highest standard,
with newcomer, Tang Yun (Xiaochun), and Chen Hong (Lili) the pick
of an impressive cast.
Well worth a few of your British pounds.
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