Last Train Home (film)
| Last Train Home | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Lixin Fan |
| Produced by | |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Olivier Alary |
| Cinematography | Lixin Fan |
| Studio | EyeSteelFilm |
| Distributed by | Zeitgeist Films |
| Release date(s) | November 22, 2009 (IDFA) |
| Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | Mandarin |
Last Train Home (simplified Chinese: 归途列车; traditional Chinese: 歸途列車; pinyin: Guītú Lièchē; literally "Homeward Train") is a 2009 documentary film directed by Lixin Fan and produced by Daniel Cross and Mila Aung-Thwin of EyeSteelFilm. Last Train Home won the Best Documentary Feature at 2009 IDFA and will be distributed by Zeitgeist Films in the US territory.
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[edit] Synopsis
Every spring, China's cities are plunged into chaos as 130 million migrant workers travel back to their home villages for the New Year's holiday. This mass exodus is the world's largest human migration, an epic spectacle that exposes a nation tragically caught between its rural past and industrial future.
Working over several years in classic cinéma vérité style, director Lixin Fan travelled with one couple who have embarked on this annual trek for almost two decades. Like many of China's rural poor, the Zhangs have left their native village of Huilong in Sichuan province and their newborn daughter to find work in Guangzhou in a garment factory for 16 years and see her only once a year during the Spring Festival. Their daughter Qin, now a restless and rebellious teenager- bitterly resents her parents' absence and longs for her own freedom away from school and her rural hometown, much to the dismay of her parents. She eventually leaves school, against the wishes of her parents, to work in the city. Emotionally charged and starkly beautiful, Last Train Home examines one fractured family to shed light on the human cost of China's ascendence as an economic superpower.
In a March 2010 follow-up interview, director Lixin Fan reveals that the Zhangs are still working in the factory and Qin telephoned, but did not visit, for the New Year.[1] More recently, in September 2011, Fan said that Qin was now a student in Beijing, and that while Qin's mother is back on the farm, her father still works at the factory. [2]
[edit] Cast
- Yang Zhang as himself
- Changhua Zhang as himself
- Suqin Chen as herself
- Qin Zhang as herself
[edit] Awards
- 2009: Won Best Feature Documentary at the 22nd annual International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)[3]
- 2009: Won Cinémathèque Québécoise Best Quebec film award at the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM)
- 2010: Won Golden Gate Award in the Investigative Documentary Feature Category at the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFiFF)
- 2010: Official Selection at Sundance Film Festival
- 2010: Official Selection at New Directors/New Films
- 2010: Won Best Documentary Feature at the RiverRun International Film Festival[4]
- 2010: Won Grand Prix at EBS International Documentary Festival
[edit] Reception
Last Train Home is certified "fresh" with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, earning the Golden Tomato award for best limited-release and best foreign film.[5]
Manohla Dargis of the New York Times picked Last Train Home as one of the most outstanding works from the 2010 Sundance by characterizing it as "a beautifully shot, haunting and haunted large scale portrait." [6]
Film critic Roger Ebert praised the film for its depiction of conflict in one family as they struggle to improve their quality of life; giving the film four out of four stars. He concluded that due to the film's depiction of the effects of capitalism on the country that "[t]he rulers of China may someday regret that they distributed the works of Marx so generously."[7]
Praising Last Train Home as "a documentary masterpiece," Brian Brooks of IndieWIRE asserts that "filmmaker Lixin Fan may very well be one of modern-day China's great non-fiction storytellers." [8]
Critics of IndieWIRE placed Last Train Home at "top four" in its list of Top Ten Competition Films of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.[9]
Last Train Home is one of the top five films nominated for Directors Guild of America Documentary Prize to be announced Jan 29, 2011 at the 63rd annual DGA Awards Dinner.[10] It lost this award to Charles Ferguson's "Inside Job."
Lixin Fan was interviewed by Anna Maria Tremonti, host of CBC radio program "The Current", on Jan 19th, 2011 talking about Last Train Home.[11]
[edit] Release
Last Train Home was released on American screens on September 3, 2010.
[edit] References
- ^ Lam, Kempton (March 24,2010). "Interview with Lixin Fan, director of "Last Train Home"". Examiner.
- ^ "Film Update". September 27, 2011. http://www.pbs.org/pov/lasttrainhome/film_update.php. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
- ^ The Globe and Mail: "Canadian documentary wins international prize"
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Rotten Tomatoes: 2010 Golden Tomato Award". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/golden_tomato_awards_2010/limited. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
- ^ Dargis, Manohla (2010-01-29). "NY Times article". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/movies/29sundance.html. Retrieved 2010-01-28.
- ^ "Last Train Home". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101013/REVIEWS/101019988/1023.
- ^ "IndieWIRE review". http://www.indiewire.com/article/profile_last_train_home_director_lixin_fan/. Retrieved 2010-01-26.
- ^ "IndieWIRE 2010 Sundance Top Ten List". http://www.indiewire.com/article/best_worst_of_sundance_gift_shop_gasland_lead_critics_poll/. Retrieved 2010-02-03.
- ^ Kilday, Gregg. "'Inside Job,' 'Last Train Home' Nominated for DGA Documentary Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/job-last-train-home-nominated-70883. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
- ^ "China's Annual Migration". CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2011/01/19/chinas-annual-migration/index.html. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Last Train Home at EyeSteelFilm
- Last Train Home at AllRovi
- Last Train Home at Box Office Mojo
- Last Train Home at the Internet Movie Database
- Last Train Home at Rotten Tomatoes
- NPR Movie Review
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