Product Description
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Getting Home (Luo Ye Gui Gen) - .com Exclusive In this soulful
and humane comedy, Zhao, a middle-aged construction worker,
struggles to fulfill a dying co-worker's last wish to be buried
in China's Three Gorges region. Setting out with his colleague's
body in tow, Zhao travels hundreds of miles across extraordinary
countryside, encountering a number of colorful adventures and
characters– and even discovering love in some unlikely quarters.
Director Zhang Yang's humorous and moving tale of friendship
offers a powerful, and sometimes slapstick, commentary on the
value of community and human connectivity in modern China.
"Simply put, 'Getting Home' is one of the best Chinese films of
the year. The latest effort from Zhang Yang, who previously
delighted viewers with the likes of Shower, it sees the Sixth
Generation director continuing his rich vein of form with another
honest tale of ordinary people." –Beyond Hollywood "If there are
films that can capture the loyalty of friendship while still
making death seem comical and light-hearted, Zhang Yang's
'Getting Home', most certainly would make that list." –Asia
Pacific Arts, UCLA Getting Home is an official selection of the
prestigious, award-winning Global Lens Collection presented by
the Global Film Initiative. In Mandarin with English subtitles.
Review
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The premise of Getting Home, a gently mordant comedy from the
Chinese director Zhang Yang, is halfway between As I Lay Dying
and Weekend at Bernie's....The picaresque tale, which won a jury
award at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival, combines
the social commentary almost inevitable in a contemporary Chinese
film....with a canny Western-style whimsicality. --Mike Hale, The
New York Times
A debt of friendship turns into a life-changing experience for a
Chinese working-class stiff in Zhang Yang's Getting Home, a road
movie-cum-gentle comedy of manners that packs an emotional punch
in its final reels. Topped by a finely calibrated, strait-faced
[performance] by Mainland stage comedian Zhao Benshan, and
marbled with en-route cameos by some of China's best character
actors, pic is a feast of acting as well as an on-the-nose
portrait of modern Chinese provincial life in all its
absurdities. --Derek Elley, Variety
Simply put, Getting Home is one of the best Chinese films of the
year. The latest effort from Zhang Yang, who previously delighted
viewers with the likes of Shower, it sees the Sixth Generation
director continuing his rich vein of form with another honest
tale of ordinary people. --James Mudge, Beyond Hollywood
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About the Actor
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Born in Tieling City, Liaoning Province, in 1957, Zhao Benshan
has become famous in China for bringing a local comic theater
tradition to the national stage. His plays have made him the
best-loved comic actor of his generation. His previous film
appearances have included The Emperor and the Assassin (1997) for
Chen Kaige, A Male Wife and a Woman in Charge (1999) for Huang
Hong and Keep Cool (1997) and Happy Times (2000) for Zhang Yimou.
About the Director
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Born in Beijing in 1967, Zhang Yang graduated from the directing
department of the Central Drama Academy in 1992. Soon after, he
won widespread attention and respect with a stage production of
Manuel Puig's Kiss of the Spiderwoman starring Jia Hongsheng.
Aside from further work in the theater, he went on to direct more
than twenty underground music videos in the early 1990s. In 1996
he teamed up with the American producer Peter Loehr, who had just
launched the independent film company Imar in Beijing. Their
first collaboration, the comedy-drama Spicy Love Soup, not only
topped the Chinese box-office for its year but also marked the
start of an enduring partnership. Their second feature Shower was
another huge commercial success (sold to 56 countries,
distributed by Sony Pictures Classics in the US) and won eleven
awards at nine different international film festivals --
including Best Director at San Sebastian, Best Film and Best
Director at Seattle, and the FIPRESCI prize in Toronto. Their
third feature Quitting, a docu-drama based on the real-life drug
addiction and schizophrenia of its star Jia Hongsheng, won the
FIPRESCI prize in Stockholm. And their fourth feature Sunflower,
a semi-autobiographical film about a difficult her/son
relationship, took Best Director and Best Cinematography prizes
in San Sebastian. The top Hollywood talent agency CAA (Creative
Artists Agency) has recently opened an office in Beijing, and has
signed Zhang Yang as one of its first clients.
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