Together

Rating:
Summary: It truly touched my heart!
Review: The best character portrayed in this movie, in my opinion, is the father. His manners may not be refined or polished, yet his love for his son Xiaochun is so utterly unconditional & unselfish. With minimal education and music training, he however does know a good violinist when he hears one (watch the scene where he wholeheartedly cheers for the already established & famous young violinist's performance after he sneaks in the concert), and that's why he seeks out Prof. Yu for his son. Yeah, he could be manipulative at times, but he is simply behaving like any other ordinary parent who wants the best for his child.

The scene in which the father went to the music shop looking for the old violin just breaks my heart! Anyone who has played the violin long enough knows how attached violinists are to their instruments. It's like the extension to the player's heart; losing it is no less serious than losing part of your soul & memory.

I always regard the violin sound to be the closest, of all the musical instruments, to the expressions and feelings of the human emotions. At the end, perhaps that's what gives Xiaochun the courage to choose what's really important and closest to his heart.

Rating:
Summary: Inspirational: Father's Sacrifice & Son's Filial Duty/Love
Review: The film begins with beautiful violin music ... played by a 13 year old Chinese boy, Xiaochen. In one of the early scenes he plays his violin music to ease the pain of child-birth by a young lady in the next room. Xiaochen's father is a humble cook in a popular local restaurant who is very proud of his son's unique violin playing talent. The father sacrifices his life-savings and security by moving to Shanghai to secure violin-lessons to enhance the son's natural talent. The father over-hears two people praising the musical abilities of an eccentric violin teacher during a performance at a music academy. The father is subsumed by his goal to develop the skills of his son, an unpolished violin-playing child prodigy. The teacher-pupil relationship is strong but eventually is strained due to a contest of wills when Xiaochen proves his violin skills are equal (perhaps greater) than those of his teacher. The dad realizes his son requires a more challenging environment and seeks to find a professor with more musical knowledge and vision. There are several themes that are thoroughly explored within this film. The first is ... will Xiaochen eventually understand and appreciate how much his dad has personally sacrificed for his son to succeed? Another theme reveals how two provincial people manage to survive in Shanghai, a major hustling and bustling city. The third theme explores whether or not Xiaochen will achieve the discipline required to polish and refine his natural violin playing skills to become a prize-winning performer ... and bring honor to his father.

When they first arrive in the railroad station at Shanghai, the crowds are overwhelming. The dad appears to a country bumpkin who eventually develops street-wise savvy and survival skills in the city. He finds a job as a bicycle-riding courier. While searching for an apartment with his dad, Xiaochen sees a self-centered beautiful young lady, on whom he develops an adolscent crush. It turns out she is a resident at the same apartment building where they live. The young lady has male admirers who shower her with gifts but unfortunately, one special boyfriend eludes her. When she sees him out with another woman, she creates a scene in which she contrives to be the betrayed wife, feigning Xiaochen to be their son whom the father appears to have neglected. This is one of many amusing scenes in the film.

One of the major conficts in the film revolves around Xiaochen's huge adolescent blunder ... he sells his one valuable possession, his violin, to buy Lili, the love of his life, a mink coat she desired. The remainder of the film attempts to resolve the problems created by this major catastrophe. New tensions arise between father and son. The father through hook and by crook obtains a position for Xiaochen with one of the finest music professors at the academy ... Xiaochen proves he has the moxie and discipline to further refine his violin playing. The climatic resolution is reached ... Xiaochen proves he deserves the trust, faith and love his father has given him. The musical performances are explosive and riveting ... this film is a feast for the five senses. This film spins with psychological undertones and is well balanced with equal and deeply satisfying heart-warming resolutions to conflicts. It is a wonderful story of how a thirteen year old boy develops into a loving and talented human being. Erika Borsos (erikab93)

Rating:
Summary: no great music without real emotion
Review: The movie makes the argument that no great art can be made without feeling. Technical competence isn't enough. So it is that the violin playing in this movie, as well as the rest of the music (it'd be great if the soundtrack for this movie were available!), affects the hearts of those listening. The movie itself does this powerfully. You come to care very much about the violin student, his father, and the others who love the young boy. Also, you begin to understand that his violin isn't just a musical instrument: it's part of the boy's soul. And that Professor Yu's attempt to control his newest prodigy, is all the more dramatic and almost heartbreaking.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Film Ever Made
Review: The perfect Father's Day present. I viewed this recently at the Tribecca Film Festival. The film tells a story of a young boy and brilliant violinist who is prodded by his father to reach success. The love and sacrifices shown between a father and son, music instructor and pupil and brother and sister (with a female neighbor) are captured with such finesse. This movie is a real tear-jerker, so have your tissues ready. Chen Kaige is brilliant in every way. Five stars are clearly not enough to represent the superior quality of this film.

Rating:
Summary: Sweet and Touching
Review: This film was quite emotionally wrenching, but ultimately, uplifting.

The relationship between father and son is very touching and the whole story is certainly engaging.

I'm an East Asian Studies major in college, specializing in Chinese, and this was my favorite film we were made to watch in my Chinese film seminar. I liked it so much, I just HAD to go out and buy it, and even my parents, who know very little of Chinese culture, LOVED it and got a copy for themselves. I'd definitely give it the highest recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: Best movie I have EVER seen!
Review: This is the BEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN I MY LIFE

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic! Words cannot express...
Review: This may very well be one of the most fabulous and wonderful movies I've ever seen. By the end of the movie you'll have filled buckets, but these are not the kind of emotionally draining tears as you'd have from, say, To Live by Zhang Yimou. This is a movie about hope, companionship, life, passion, triumph, and love.

But let's not forget music. Actually, it didn't even take half a minute (honestly) of watching this movie for me to realize that it was going to blow me away. Even while the opening credits are rolling, the imagery is spectacular, and the music already has you under its spell. It's gentle, yet it has some sort of... well, "energy" to it. Chen Kaige follows through excellently, keeping this energy throughout the whole movie.

Anyway, one thing is for sure. This movie is about feeling. Writing a review of this movie is futile because by the time you manipulate the English language enough to try to convey the feeling this movie leaves you with, you're left with something too confusing to decipher.

So just watch this movie, and feel it.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic! Words cannot express...
Review: This may very well be one of the most fabulous and wonderful movies I've ever seen. By the end of the movie you'll have filled buckets, but these are not the kind of emotionally draining tears as you'd have from, say, To Live by Zhang Yimou. This is a movie about hope, companionship, life, passion, triumph, and love.

But let's not forget music. Actually, it didn't even take half a minute (honestly) of watching this movie for me to realize that it was going to blow me away. Even while the opening credits are rolling, the imagery is spectacular, and the music already has you under its spell. It's gentle, yet it has some sort of... well, "energy" to it. Chen Kaige follows through excellently, keeping this energy throughout the whole movie.

Anyway, one thing is for sure. This movie is about feeling. Writing a review of this movie is futile because by the time you manipulate the English language enough to try to convey the feeling this movie leaves you with, you're left with something too confusing to decipher.

So just watch this movie, and feel it.

Rating:
Summary: A Peek Into Chinese relationships
Review: This movies shows the amount of love, sacrifice and dedication most Chinese parents provide to better their children's lives. Our parents are overbearing most times, but it all comes from the abundance of love that is often not physically demonstrated, but rather demonstrated in the things they do for you.
This a beautiful movie with wonderful performances from every single actor. It is also a story about what is really important.

Rating:
Summary: one of the best movies ever made
Review: This review, coming after all these excellent reviews, is short: "Together" is quite simply one of the best movies ever made, in ANY language. How could it not have been a major blockbuster in the US?! Apart from the powerful story, (which, under a director of lesser talent, could have turned into melodrama), the great acting, directing and cinematography is sophisticated and superb, and the depth of human drama very real. Nothing from Hollywood in recent years can compete with this kind of excellence. The film communicates so simply but so powerfully, that you never even notice that you are reading subtitles. I saw it in a tiny but packed US theatre and at the end, when the credits were rolling up- in CHINESE!- not a single person could get up from their seat; everyone just sat there, emotionally full to the brim, staring at the screen until the last Chinese character disappeared.