One man's touching portrait of family relationships is another man's sentimentality, and though 'Together With You' sails very close to the wind on occasion, this Chinese drama eventually triumphs thanks to its sheer optimism and pure heart.
Emerging from a sheltered provincial upbringing, 13-year-old Xiaochun (Tang Yun) and his poor father, Liu Cheng (Liu Peiqi) arrive in the city to continue the youngster's violin training. After he loses a competition due to politics, Liu Cheng manages to convince a hermit-like teacher Jiang (Wang Zhiwen) into taking on Xiaochun. Alongside his curious relationship with the Professor, the youngster develops a crush on Lili (Chen Hong), a gold digger who thinks nothing of prostituting herself to her sugar daddies. Throw in Xiaochun's increasingly fractured relationship with his ambitious but uncouth father, and the latter's desperation for his son to succeed, and you've got a film which is on a first name basis with melodrama. But while Kaige isn't afraid to use the emotional card, he does it with poise and skill. He plays the audience like Xiaochun's violin, but he does so with so much grace and empathy that it is difficult not to warm to the protagonists. While the metaphors about the modernisation of China and the importance of family come thick and fast, the director's assurance and skill make this a crowd pleasing art house flick. Now there's something you don't see every day.
