Release Date: May 30, 2003
Starring: Yun Tang, Peiqi Liu, Zhiwen Wang, Hong Chen, Kaige Chen
Directed by: Kaige Chen
Written by: Kaige Chen, Xiao Lu Xue
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (United Artists)
MPAA Rating: PG (mild language, thematic elements)
It is just a coincidence, but Kaige Chen’s Together, which is about a father and son who travel hundreds of miles so that the son might fully realize his talents on the violin, opened on the same day as Finding Nemo, an animated family film about a father who travels hundreds of miles to rescue his lost son. The latter, as might be expected of a film of its genre, is optimistic and rarely subtle. Together, quite often, seems to be just the opposite. But in both films, the strength of the father-son bond between its main characters is central to their plots, and it may be that Together’s refusal to be bound by formulas, unlike Nemo, reveals greater depths to that paternal dichotomy.
But if Together as a film is quiet and ponderous (in a good way), then its chosen instrument, the violin, is anything but. Whereas in this stately, graceful movie, characters often speak volumes with their eyes or their faces, when it comes to the violin, and its music, nothing is ambiguous. Together makes a strong case for the violin (and perhaps all string instruments) as the most dramatically poignant instrument -- so often, the film’s young protagonist, the 13-year-old Xiaochun (Yun Tang), is incapable of uttering anything more than a few words together, but with a violin in his hands, he lights up the screen, the bow flashing across the strings like harmonious bolts of lightning.
Unlike the boy, Xiaochun’s father, Cheng (Peiqi Liu), never shuts up. He has brought Xiaochun from their rural hometown to Beijing after hearing of a music contest that might advance his son’s career as a violin prodigy, but after approaching an eccentric teacher, Professor Jiang (Zhiwen Wang), he learns that, in Beijing at least, success goes to those who can buy their way to the top. Cheng, a short-order cook, has no money. But, intrigued by Xiaochun’s talent, Jiang agrees to take him on as a student, prodding him along with a mixture of cynicism, sarcasm, admiration, and grudging respect.
Although the setting is unique, audiences will recognize the basic themes at work. Xiaochun, whose mother abandoned him when he was young, leaving him only with her violin, sees the trip to Beijing as an adventure, and quickly adapts to city life. Cheng, on the other hand, grovels obsequiously to all of Xiaochun’s teachers to the point of embarrassment. He always wears ratty clothes, including an oversized baseball cap and gloves with the fingers missing, and his way of throwing himself about the screen (quite often to land at someone’s feet) may remind some viewers of Charlie Chaplin’s famous tramp characters. That he should be a throwback to the early twentieth century is appropriate, because it is quickly apparent that he and his son are from different eras, and it is only Cheng’s endless desire for his son’s best that allows the two to bridge this curious generational gap.
Luckily, Xiaochun meets up with Lili (Hong Chen), a call girl who lives in an apartment building near his basement flat; though they are in the center of one of Beijing’s slums, and though she needs to bar her door every night, Xiaochun finds Lili’s existence strikingly cosmopolitan. In return she becomes something of a big sister to him, serving as an outlet for a boy who has little connection to his father.
Professor Jiang also serves as a role model for Xiaochun, and Zhiwen Wang gives the movie’s best performance as the wily old instructor. In one scene, Jiang lectures Xiaochun on the reasons he ought to play the violin, and the message is clear: play it because you love it, not because your father wants to. During the sequence, the camera slowly closes in on Zhiwen’s face, giving the viewer ample opportunity to appreciate the combination of age and youth in Professor Jiang (a mix that makes him the most interesting character in the movie). It is no surprise that eventually, Jiang admits that Xiaochun is too good for him, and that he must study with another teacher, the renowned Professor Yu (played by the director, Kaige Chen), but though Yu may have won great fame as a teacher, his icy demeanor pales in comparison to Jiang’s quiet charisma.
The score, almost completely constructed of violin pieces, is omnipresent, and though at times the link between the nondiegetic music and the diegetic action is often frustratingly obvious, the selection is impeccable. Bruch, Strauss, Liszt, Massenet, and, finally, Tchaikovsky all adorn the film’s mantle, and the sight of three dozen violinists and other orchestral parts moving in unison to create both visual and sonic harmony is truly stirring.
So, too, is the film’s narrative climax, which shakes things up enough to ensure that Together is no simple story. In retrospect, the film becomes substantially more powerful knowing what happens in the final act, and viewers may find themselves strangely touched by this steadfast, earnest drama of fathers and sons. At the least, Together provides the human element of the equation that will always be missing from animated creations like Finding Nemo.
-- Craig Roush (crr225@nyu.edu)