Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

This is a movie for all cultures and all people, for families and especially for those who have lost them.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It's a masterful little film, and, thanks to Zhang's seasoned hands, it's subtly heartfelt but never manipulative.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Zhang Yimou is a master of intimate character pieces.

Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

Ken Takakura, a great rain-creased oak of an actor, delivers a quietly massive performance.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

This new picture will reach only a few devoted American spectators. That's too bad, because once you get used to the apparent flatness and emotional reserve of this picture, it's a sad, slyly comic tale of family trauma and reconciliation that packs a wallop.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Turning away from his highly entertaining epics "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers," Zhang Yimou goes for utter simplicity in Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, a film of much distilled wit and wisdom.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Zhang's film is sweet and sentimental nearly to a fault; luckily, he's such a master, you'll hardly notice how shamelessly you're being manipulated.

San Francisco Chronicle G. Allen Johnson

Although "Riding" is a small-scale movie as opposed to a big-scale epic, it is just as ambitious.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

Zhang is a master of detail and spectacle. There is also plenty of comedy, particularly in the scenes with linguistically challenged translators.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's a film that can leave you on the fence. There's great facility with non-pro actors, with unusual locations, with both intimate and epic-scale scenes. Yet at the same time, Takata's reserve overwhelms the picture and makes its efforts to elicit emotions seem clumsy.

Miami Herald Marta Barber

Cynics may not fall for its melodrama, but Riding Alone is good for everyone else, including children.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Embedded here in a culture of formalities, with some of the arcs and gestures of that culture, it almost becomes an opera of its own.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Unlikely to be ranked as one of Zhang's greatest accomplishments but is clearly the work of a major filmmaker. It is best seen as a heartfelt tribute to Takakura, as heroic and enduring a star as John Wayne.

Variety Russell Edwards

A simple, low-budget, contempo dramedy -- with plenty of clever plot reversals.

The New York Times Nathan Lee

A little uncanny (has it been digitally manipulated?) and a whole lot clichéd, the tableau speaks of melancholy graced by a pale sliver of hope. You'd roll your eyes if they weren't so dazzled.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

It's the kind of story that shows more than it tells, a story that's forged in the spaces that exist in between characters and spaces.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

My mood kept fluctuating, as did my reaction when the end credits rolled: This is seriously lovely; this is fluff; this is seriously lovely fluff.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Slow and pretty and duller than you'd hope for from an art-house sophisticate like Zhang.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Riding Alone features a moving performance by Takakura (often called the Asian Clint Eastwood), as well as pretty cinematography. But the mushy script, co-written by Zhang, never rises above that of a TV soap opera.

Christian Science Monitor Robert Koehler

This is not storytelling by a confident artist. Even Zhang's former mastery of visual form has become shaky, with a pedestrian handling of dramatic scenes and a surfeit of picture-postcard landscape shots.

Film Threat Phil Hall

Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou has created so many memorable films (most recently the wuxia double-play "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers") that one can easily excuse his new clinker Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.