Zhou Yu's Train (2002) User Reviews

Beautiful, Poetic and Methaphoric, but with a Confused Non-Linear Screenplay

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 30 September 2005]

I found this movie very beautiful and intriguing, mainly the cinematography, the soundtrack and the wonderful performance of cast with Gong Li, Tony Leung Kafai and Hanglei Sun. Unfortunately, the non-linear screenplay, associated to the difference with the Western cultures and language and the unusual names of the locations, made difficult for me to understand some parts of the story, and I had to rewind the DVD. The mysterious character of Xiu (Gong Li), the narrator, is not well explained and I believe she might have imagined the love story while reading the poem "Zhou Yu's Train" of Chen Qing, with Zhou Yu being her alter-ego. The last scene, disclosing the lake hidden by the fog, is fantastic. I am not sure whether the death of Zhou Yu in the bus accident is another metaphor. I intend to see this movie again in a near future, trying to understand it deeper and reevaluate my vote, which is presently six.

Title (Brazil): "O Trem de Zhou Yu"("Zhou Yu's Train")

Passionate Love in a Changing China

[lawprof · 7/10 · 20 July 2004]

Li Gong, better known as Gong Li in the West, stars in this taut, probing but occasionally confusing love story set in today's China. Extraordinarily beautiful and also very accomplished as an actress, Gong Li is on a hiatus from historical spectacles and films with a threatening, for the government, political subtext. I doubt any cultural satrap was put out by "Zhou Yu's Train."

Zhou Yu paints bucolic and traditional scenes on cheap porcelain before they're finished and sent out to the world's Chinatowns or Chinese cities for sale to tourists. She's talented but so are all the other women in her shop. Great art this ain't.

Zhou Yu regularly takes the train to another city where her not brimming with self-confidence poet boyfriend, Chen Qing, lives. Chen is played by Tony Leung Kafai. On the train she meets veterinarian Zhang Quiang, Hanglei Sun. He pursues her and a triangle develops, not an original one at that.

Director Zhou Sun has Zhou Yu torn between a poet whose so far failed efforts at recognition she wishes to reinvigorate and advance and a country farm animal vet, a more lighthearted chap. The train is a metaphor for separation and emotional journeying. The train takes her between worlds, not just stations.

A bit confusing, at least with subtitles, is Gong Li's second role as a narrator who appears at various points but who also has a direct relationship, apparently platonic, with Chen. Perhaps it's clearer to those who understand Chinese.

While Gong Li has several passionate love scenes, she orgasms without getting undressed, a tired sop to Chinese moral values which impact on directors' freedom. A shower scene shows nothing below her shoulders. Erotic? Actually, very.

The highpoint of the movie is Gong Li's total and believable immersion in a role that isn't very out of the ordinary. But her acting makes the audience care about the resolution of her dilemma, one that I suspect many viewers will not like.

Tony Leung Kafai and Hanglei Sun turn in fine performances in roles clearly subordinated to Zhou Yu's centrality in the tale.

This story would amount to a "B" film if populated by Americans living in the rural Midwest. But as a look at changing mores in China it justifies a

7/10.

Trains, Fog and Slow Motion

[EdgarST · 5/10 · 18 April 2015]

This motion picture defines the word "artsy". A film about a young and pretty porcelain painter who falls in love with a shy and melancholic poet (played by Sun Honleig), it aims to be a poetic work, but what you get is lots of ralenti shots to the point of saturation, piano and strings music, pretty landscapes enshrouded in fog, trains entering and exiting tunnels and Gong Li... In the past Miss Gong inspired true poetic films, as those directed by Zhang Yimou, but this movie is not one. Tony Leung plays another suitor, a sympathetic veterinarian with a welcome sense of humor, too materialistic to understand romantic love and literary inspiration, and wise to keep a distance, but not enough to balance this melodrama, with too much emphasis on sad love. I love trains, but this trip is on the boring side.

"Train" Fair

[ncc1205 · 26 November 2004]

ZHOU YU'S TRAIN is the type of film that may require repeat viewing in order for the casual viewer to take in all the thia story has to offer: if you blink -- much like the effect of the quickly passing scenery out the window of any train -- you might miss a plot line, a character moment, or a perspective that would better be explored, as the climax to this evenly and perhaps-too-leisurely-paced romance shows.

Zhou Yu (the lovely Gong Li) plays a young painter who falls in love with a shy poet, Chen Ching (played by Tony Leung Ka-Fai). Twice a week, Zhou Yu rides the train to be with him. On the train, however, a humorous veterinarian (played Sun Honglei) sees, approaches, and flirts with her. While she initially resists his desire, she eventually gives in to an indescribable curiosity which forces all of them to examine their various roles in one another's lives.

While one could hardly argue with the notion that there are parts of TRAIN that appear uneven and, at least, forced, the film still manages to deliver a perspective worth a single view: who does Zhou Yu love and why? Torn between these two men for wildly conflicting reasons, she can't make sense of her dilemma. Instead of running from one of them, she inevitably chooses aspects of both for her affection, but this choice only forces her further and further into confusion.

As a result, TRAIN explores more than one budding relationship, making the film as uneven as it is unpredictable. In fact, one could make the argument that what truly is transpiring here cannot be fully understood and appreciated until the film's final few moments .. but even then the viewer is left with many unanswered questions. Is that the message of the film, that life brings more questions than answers? Or is it merely a comment on how Zhou Yu chose to live her life? Or is it something even more?

Regardless, what is clear is Zhou's desire to seek the answers to questions of the various loves in her life (two men, friendship, art, etc.), and the narrative clearly appears to be a device through which an exploration of the female mind and heart is undertaken. Whether you reach a destination is left entirely up to the viewer.

Of course, the best scenery is Gong Li. She plays even utter confusion with beautiful conviction. If you're a fan of her work, then TRAIN is definitely for you.

Beautiful but confused yet strangely compelling

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 14 April 2009]

Beautiful film with the beautiful Gong Li about a pottery artist who takes the train twice a week to meet with mild mannered poet and the more brazen Vet she crosses path with on the train. If I could tell you more than that I would. This is a confused and confusing film that jumps through time and space with a bit too much abandon. The film is strangely compelling because its well acted and because it is so beautiful to watch. Sequences transpire that are absolutely stunning, but at the same time they play like oblique TV commercials. I like the film on some level even though I know I shouldn't. in all honesty its the sort of thing I'll probably pick up on DVD again since it can be had for around the cost of a rental, and I'd like to see it again to see if I'm daft and whether a wee hours viewing and having to switch vcds made a difference in my opinion.

If it's in your heart, then it's real.

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 19 July 2007]

Li Gong is just about the best thing ever to come out of China. No matter how many films I have seen featuring her, I am always impressed.

This is a difficult film to watch. You are never quite sure who you are watching. Li Gong is in a relationship with a poet (Tony Leung Ka Fai) and the practical vet (Honglei Sun). She travels by train between them.

But, are we watching events in real time or narrated? It seems that what we are seeing is in the past. That the poet, Chen Qing, has a current relationship, and only has Zhou Yu in his heart.

If this were an American film, then I believe it would probably be relegated to Lifetime, but with Li Gong, we have more than romance; we have poetry.

One of the best films ever made

[pagrn1 · 10/10 · 26 October 2004]

Quite simply one of the best films ever made! Every element combines to produce a multi-layered masterpiece that revolves around the central tour-de-force that is Gong Li. This has to be her best film yet and she is wholly served by her fellow actors and production crew. Director Sun Zhou is a master of light with every scene's mood enhanced by his total control of the medium. One would like to have seen this film win multiple awards but the limited number of screens available to 'difficult' films like this make it nearly impossible to attain the recognition it deserves. Equally, Gong Li - the world's most beautiful and accomplished film actress - remains unknown to the unhappy teenagers who have only a diet of dross on which to feed their heads.

This is a train you don't have to rush in order to catch...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 22 February 2016]

Director Zhou Sun's movie from 2002 was somewhat of a rather long ordeal to get through. And I say that with the best of heart, because I was really trying to get submerged into this movie with heart and spirit, but it just never really spoke out to me or captivated me.

"Zhou Yu's Train" (aka "Zhou Yu de huo che") felt like a three hour long movie despite it just running at an average 1 hour and 37 minutes. It was the prolonged storytelling and constantly dragged out scenes where you watch Li Gong either walking in slow motion or sitting around lost in thought that made the movie seem like it was taking forever to get nowhere.

And getting nowhere is exactly what director Zhou Sun managed to do with this movie. It is the story of Zhou Yu (played by Li Gong) a ceramic artist who travels a long distance twice a week by train in order to see her poet boyfriend Chen Qing (played by Tony Ka Fai Leung). During her numerous trips back and forth Zhou Yu befriends Zhang Qiang (played by Honglei Sun) a veterinarian who is enamored with the young artist.

It should be said that the acting in the movie and the three main acting talents really did perform quite well throughout the course of the movie. They were just limited by the directorial hand of Zhou Sun.

Storywise, then "Zhou Yu's Train" doesn't really come up with anything overly new or impressive, nor does it move the Asian cinema by any means. Sure, if you are a fan of Li Gong then there is some enjoyment to be had here, but as fan of the broader Asian cinema then "Zhou Yu's Train" came off as too slow paced and not overly much happening.

"Zhou Yu's Train" pulls a mere four of ten stars from me as the train is departing the station. I wasn't particularly impressed with the movie, and it took the director forever to virtually get nowhere. However, it should be said that the ending of the movie was quite good, although it wasn't much of a surprise twist.

Meaningful movie

[ingwer_ginger · 9/10 · 19 June 2020]

The movie stays with you through the years. I saw the movie more than a decade ago and I still remember it. It seems slow-paced especially for young people, but it has lessons about life and relationships. The symbol of the lake used in this movie is very powerful (beautiful natural lake versus artificial lake). Love relationships could be exactly like the lake example.

A poet and a vet allow themselves to become targets of the labile affections of a pot decorator with inexhaustible leisure and a lifetime railway pass.

[pehn · 1/10 · 7 April 2008]

If you like the feeling of being mystified and of watching others being mystified themselves, then this is the movie for you. You have only to peruse the previous comments and notice the contradictions in them about plot elements and even dramatis personae to see how confusing this movie is. Most interesting of all, what someone understands to have happened in the movie seems not to matter. Almost all the comments are positive. ("Abject adulation" might be a better phrase.) How much to blame Zhou Sun (writer, director) and how much to blame Cun Bei (novelist) must be left to readers of Chinese with time on their hands. All in all a travesty fit to be enjoyed by those who deserve nothing better!

A Train Painted on a Vase

[tedg · 8 August 2005]

Regular readers of my comments know that nearly all my viewing is by recommendation. So, often I will pick a film that I know nothing at all about; this is one of those.

My goal is to stumble upon a hidden gem that has escaped all the geniuses I know, that has such power that it takes me by surprise. Friends, if you are reading this and haven't yet seen the film, I have stolen the joy of discovery without knowing; but please do see this. It is precious.

It is something between the best of Tarkovsky and what you might like of Kar-Wai Wong.

The story is purely in service to the cinematic images, and those are in service to some very pure notions: Poetry as love, love as travel, travel as painting, painting as copying one's self and sending it out, going out as diving into water, diving as love, love as poetry.

Unbelievably, each of these concepts is displayed in images of a train. You have to see it to believe it. Trains have been with film since the very beginning, and have been handled by masters. But I have never seen it so thoroughly explored, extended and exhausted as here.

The narrative is folded and shifting. It could be a poem, a porcelain painting, a story from each of the four main characters that invents the others. It is quite confusing the first time around.

The main thread is in the real world: a porcelain artist falls for a poet in another city. He writes poems for and about her, including her journeys on the train to see him. He gets sent to Tibet. She follows and on the way back is killed in an accident. Later, another woman (played by the same actress) meets the now famous poet and they fall in love. Or do they? This second woman travels on the same train.

All of this is chopped and shifted around in presentation, and you have no idea who is telling or seeing what, including several episodes where the first girl also falls for a veterinarian she meets on the train. He may be an imaginary figure. Both the girl and the poet love two people but their bond, at least according to the poems, is much stronger.

That's all the story you need to know to not be unsettled and to just go with the flow.

What reminds me of Tarkovsky is the way the camera invokes parallel realities as if it glances into the mind as easily as outside a window. The camera is restless and goes to odd places, but once there temporarily becomes meditative. The simplest scenes become blossoms.

If you ever loved someone distant, you'll recognize the magic of yearning driving a mythologizing of reality.

You have probably seen the actress who plays the two women, Li Gong. She is as good as Liv Uhlmann in the way that Liv is capable of small, flitting expressions that each contain whole lives. She has some American films in production, I see.

Please see this.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

A surreal experience.....

[moviemaniac-9 · 19 October 2004]

"The way to a woman's heart is through a poem".....so it seemed in this visually stunning cinematic experience.

One eventful day, Zhou Yu a pretty painter from Sanming embarked on a train for trip. She chanced upon a handsome but shy aspiring poet, Chen Ching. He captivated her and soon captured her heart with his poem personifying her natural beauty and comparing it to that a celestial lake.

Soon they fell in love and began their twice weekly passionate affair while commuting to the city of Chongyang. But a fellow commuter named simply as Zhang Qiang, a veterinarian came in between the two lovebirds, with a secret amorous agenda of his own for Zhou Yu.

But this is more than just a love triangle!

A new woman named Xiu came into the scene. She looked exactly like Zhou Yu. But the scene took on a different era; a different time period. She was reading the book, "Zhou Yu's Train".

Is Zhou Yu a real person? Is Zhou Yu really was Xiu? Or is Zhou Yu a figment of Xiu's romantic imagination?

Be prepared for this surreal, non-linear movie experience.

Accurate depiction of the new problem of new era

[zzmale · 31 March 2004]

In comparison to most other Chinese movies, the title of this movie has very significant symbolic meaning, symbolizing the point of no return. It also has an poetic meaning, which neatly related to the plot of the movie which include a poet. This is one of most obvious achievement of this movie, which also makes it a little different from the rest of Chinese movies.

The social critic aspect of the movie is rather something ordinary, a theme that is common in most social critic films in contemporary China, and it is none other than the criticism of hedonism, materialism, and other common stuff you would find in Chinese movies about modern China.

Splendid film

[Vincentiu · 11 February 2007]

Poetic, delicate, subtle. European film with Oriental irisations. Story about love and desire, about power of images and the honey of illusions. Cercles of symbols and chimeric gestures. Time like far lake and the past like only form of present. And a feminine Adonis between two different worlds.

The character of Li Gong is a magnificent miniature not of a sensitive age or ambiguous feelings but for a way to define the existence. A way to explore each miracle as part of a sacred refuge, a river-trip. The train and the travels to loved friend, the poems and the house like essential sanctuary of a wonderful past, splendid for his ambiguity, the talks with realistic, sarcastic man for who the dreams are only offals of lost age and Zhou Yu- a pretty prey.

For this film, the gestures or words are pieces of intense atmosphere. The search of truth is element of personal religion, the love- delicate shard of beautiful pot. The answers- breath of wind in a spring day. And the time- huge shadow of a way.

Super confusing

[Gordon-11 · 18 February 2015]

This film tells the story of a woman who is in love with a poet far away, while a vet near her attempts to win her heart.

"Zhou Yu's Train" is not told in a linear manner, and hence it's super confusing. All the time, I thought there were only three main characters, the woman, the poet and the vet. The story jump back and forth, and it's hard to piece together the fragments to make a coherent story. This is not helped by the slow pace, numerous scenes of train and railway tracks, dragging the film longer than it needs to be. The most confusing thing is the ending, I didn't understand it at all, until I read the message board that says there is in fact a fourth character, also played by Gong Li! The film lost me and my interest completely, and there is no turning back. It would help to understand the story if I watched it again, but I'm not watching it again for sure.