Director Zhang Yimou (l) with Japanese star Takakura Ken (m).	A 300 meter long dinner table prepared for the guests.	The city of Lijiang raised red lanterns  for the première.
(Sina.com)

The star of Riding alone for Thousands of Miles is 74 year old veteran Japanese actor Takakura Ken. Director Zhang Yimou said he had been an admirer of Ken for 30 years and he created the film just for work with Ken once. The film begins with a Japanese fisherman (Takakura Ken) arrived in Tokyo to see his ailing son (Kiichi Nakai) but his son refuse to meet him because of something unforgivable his father did many years ago. The fisherman's daughter-in-law shows him a video, hoping he could know more about his own son. The video shows an Chinese actor performing an opera unique unique China's southwestern province of Yunnan and the play is called Riding alone for Thousands of Miles. The fisherman decides to travel to Yunnan to tape the play, which he considers the least he can do for his son. Of cause, this is only the beginning of the film.

Riding alone for Thousands of Miles has been hailed, both in China and in Japan, as a touching human story. It had its worldwide première at the 18th Tokyo International Film Festival the past October. It will be release in the mainland China next Thursday and in Japan January 26, 2006. Sony Pictures Classics has picked up the film's North American rights with no date set.

Videos: The grand entrance The concert show The street feast

Photos: A B C D E F 

Review, by Russell Edwards, Variety

(Beijing New Picture Film Co.)

A 30 minute making-of and two trailers Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles featurette is available on Sina.com.  It was part of a press kit for the international distributors, originally made in English and dubbed with Chinese.

The poster, designed for the mainland Chinese market, shows 74 year old veteran Japanese actor Ken Takakura and an unknown little Chinese boy. In the new drama from director Zhang Yimou, Ken Takakura plays Takada, a Japanese fisherman, who accompanies his ailing son Takada to Yunnan Province of China to search for the secret behind a local opera. Riding alone for Thousands of Miles is the direct translation from its original Chinese title Qin Li Zou Dan Ji. The film has been scheduled for a world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival this fall and the release in China has been aimed at December. Reportedly, the film's North American rights have been sold to an undisclosed Hollywood studio.

Zhang Yimou's next project will be another period feature (English working tile: Autumn Remembrance), with Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li. Producer Zhang Weiping told Beijing-based tabloid BigStar that 80% of the film would be shot indoor and it would contain a small amount of fight scenes. Zhang's second upcoming project will an untitled epic with Jackie Chan.

Takakura Ken	(L to R) Jiang Wen, Takakura Ken and two cast members.	Takakura Ken (R) and a cast member (L).
(Beijing New Picture Film Co.)

In the new drama from director Zhang Yimou, 74 year old veteran Japanese actor Ken Takakura plays Takada, a Japanese fisherman, who accompanies his ailing son Takada to Yunnan Province of China to search for the secret behind a local opera.. Qian Li Zou Dan Ji, which literally means Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, will première at the coming Tokyo International Film Festival this fall and director Zhang Yimou will head the festival's jury.

Beijing based tabloid BigStar has posted three official production stills from  director Zhang Yimou's Qian Li Zou Dan Ji:

Takakura Ken (L) and Jiang Wen

Takakura Ken

Jiang Wen

More about Wu Ji / The Promise

A news conference for director's Zhang Yimou's Qian Li Zou Dan Ji was held yesterday in Tokyo. The film tells a story of a Japanese man travels to China's Southwest to complete a scholarly project on a local opera, for his dying son.

Related story: Chinese auteur Zhang directs Japanese actor in new film (AP via Yahoo! Asia News)

More photos from the news conference: A B C

Photos: (L to R) a Japanese producer, producer Bill Kong, director Zhang Yimou, actor Ken Takakura, director Yasuo Furuhata, actor Kiichi Nakai and actress Shinobu Terajima.

It does not feature any scene from the film but rather shows director Zhang Yimou (right) and Takakura Ken (left) walking together.

According to Chinese media, director Zhang Yimou just ended the production of Qian Li Zou Dan Ji in the "Earth Forest" of China's Yunnan Province. Produced with a much smaller budget, comparing to those of Zhang's Hero and House of Flying Daggers, the film features Japanese veteran actor Takakura Ken as an old man accompanying his dying son to China whose last wish is to study a local opera. Shooting will restart in Japan after the Chinese New Year (February 9).