Night Train

A Kim Ki-duk style picture in Mandarin in the moonscape environment of the dark side of contemporary expanding China as you don’t know it. Or also the theme of loneliness among a nation of over a billion. The result is an excellent movie that however pulls into its destination a little sheepishly. The final twenty-minute sequence is a prime example of hollow, wannabe art that drives you to tears. And at the same time, absolutely unsubstantiated and ending in the most kitschy, seen it a million times before. Drowning out any preceding positive impressions. (04/01/2008)