Riding Alone For Thousands Of Miles

Retreating from the epic heroics of the popular martial-arts adventures HERO (2002) and HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS (2004), Chinese filmmaker Yimou Zhang here returns to the small-scale, character-driven dramas that made him famous. Upon learning that his grown son, Ken-ichi (Kiichi Nakai), has been hospitalized for a stomach ailment that will soon be diagnosed as pancreatic cancer, gruff loner Gou-ichi (Ken Takakura) leaves the self-styled hermitage he's created in a small fishing village on Japan's northwestern coast. It's been 10 years since his beloved wife died, and nearly as long since he last saw Ken-ichi, who blames his father for abandoning him in his grief, and...