Getting Home
Encyclopedia
Getting Home is a 2007 Chinese
Cinema of China
The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...
comedy/drama film directed by Zhang Yang and starring Chinese comedian Zhao Benshan
Zhao Benshan
Zhao Benshan is a Chinese skit and sitcom actor, and recently turned TV director. He appears regularly on the CCTV New Year's Gala.-Biography:...
. The film is episodic in nature and follows two workers in their 50's, Zhao (Zhao Benshan) and Liu (Hong Qiwen). The film opens when Liu unexpectedly dies after a night of drinking and Zhao decides to fulfill a promise to his friend to get him home beginning a long odyssey from Shenzhen to Chongqing with Liu's corpse on his back. Along the way, Zhao meets a variety of figures, played by several of China's better known character actors.
Getting Home is Zhang Yang's fifth feature film. It was produced by Filmko Entertainment of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and the Beijing Jinqianshengshi Culture Media company of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. International sales and distribution was by Fortissimo Films
Fortissimo Films
Fortissimo Films is a multi-national film production, sales and distribution company. The company has been behind such East Asian films as Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love, the Thai films Tears of the Black Tiger and Last Life in the Universe, as well as such independent films as Pleasure...
out of Amsterdam.
Getting Homes original title derives from a Chinese proverb meaning "A falling leaf returns to its roots." It is apparently based on a true story.
Cast
- Zhao BenshanZhao BenshanZhao Benshan is a Chinese skit and sitcom actor, and recently turned TV director. He appears regularly on the CCTV New Year's Gala.-Biography:...
as Zhao a middle-aged worker who decides to carry his late friend home. - Hong Qiwen as Liu
- Song DandanSong DandanSong Dandan is a very popular Chinese skit and sitcom actress.-Biography:She was trained and started as a drama actress. But it was her skit debut, A Date with Slug, in 1989 CCTV New Year's Gala that brought her immediate success. Afterwards she costarred firstly with Huang Hong then with her most...
as a middle-aged homeless woman who sells her blood for money - Guo DegangGuo Degang- Biography :Guo Degang was born in Tianjin. He began to learn pingshu when he was 8 years old.Guo went to Beijing in 1995 and established Deyun She , a xiangsheng performance theater, in 1996...
as a ringleader of a gang of thieves who attempts to hold-up the bus Zhao first uses to transport Liu's corpse - Hu JunHu JunHu Jun is a Chinese actor of Manchu ethnicity. He is known for his dramatic roles in various films and television series.-Filmography:-External links:***** - Official recognition fan site...
as a trucker who drives Zhao and Liu a part of the way - Xia YuXia YuXia Yu is a Chinese actor.-Biography:He was born in Qingdao, Shandong Province. He was initially discovered by Jiang Wen during his semi-autobiographical film In the Heat of the Sun . Xia was chosen partly because of facial resemblance to a young Jiang...
as a cyclist attempting to bicycle to Tibet - Wu MaWu MaWu Ma is a Chinese actor, director, producer and writer. Wu Ma made his screen debut in 1963, and with over 180 appearances to his name , Wu Ma is one of the most familiar faces in the history of Hong Kong Cinema...
as an elderly wealthy but lonely man who Zhao meets along his journey - Liu Jinshan as a thuggish restaurateur
- Chen Ying and Guo TaoGuo Tao (actor)Guo Tao is a Chinese actor.Guo was born in Beijing. He graduated from Central Academy of Drama in 1992.-Filmography:*1994, To Live*1997, Spicy Love Soup*1998, So Close to Paradise*2004, Green Hat*2006, Crazy Stone...
as husband and wife beekeepers who have rejected modern society
Production
Originally entitled Air, Getting Home was financed by Filmko Films and Fortissimo FilmsFortissimo Films
Fortissimo Films is a multi-national film production, sales and distribution company. The company has been behind such East Asian films as Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love, the Thai films Tears of the Black Tiger and Last Life in the Universe, as well as such independent films as Pleasure...
and produced by Peter Loehr
Peter Loehr
Peter Loehr, born 1967.Peter Loehr established Imar Film Co., Ltd., China's first independent film company in 1997. Imar was China's first true, multi-faceted independent, producing, distributing and marketing all of their films entirely in-house...
(of Ming Productions and the Imar Film Company
Imar Film Company
Imar Film Company is an independent film production company in China. Imar was established in 1997 by American producer Peter Loehr.Imar It was the first legal independent film company in the PRC. Imar handles production, distribution and marketing of films in partnership with Xin Film Studio...
) and Wouter Barendrecht
Wouter Barendrecht
Wouter Barendrecht was a film producer. With Michael J. Werner, Barendrecht was the co-chairman of Fortissimo Films, a company he founded in 1991 in Amsterdam....
of Fortissimo. This marked the first collaboration between Zhang and Filmko, but the fifth with Fortissimo.
Though the film documents Zhao's journey from Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
to Chongqing
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
, the majority of shooting took place in Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
, a Chinese province in the southwest.
Reception
Getting Home had its Western debut in the 2007 Berlin International Film FestivalBerlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
on February 11, 2007, as part of the festival's Panorama series. There it won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Since Berlin, Getting Home has made the rounds in the festival circuit, including Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival
Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival
The Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival is a week long film festival founded in 2006 by filmmaker and artist Harish Saluja and held every May during Asian American Heritage Month in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to show mostly recent films and music by artists with Asian ethnic origins, such as...
, Deauville
Deauville Asian Film Festival
The Deauville Asian Film Festival takes place annually in Deauville, France since 1999 and focuses on Asian cinema...
and the New York Asian Film Festival
New York Asian Film Festival
The New York Asian Film Festival was first held in 2002, growing out of the previous year's New York Korean Film Festival...
.
Western critics, meanwhile, have embraced the film, with several noting that while the synopsis recalls the American comedy Weekend at Bernie's
Weekend at Bernie's
Weekend at Bernie's is a 1989 American comedy film directed by Ted Kotcheff. A comedy starring Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman features the two as a couple of young insurance agency employees who discover their boss is deceased...
, Getting Home far surpasses that film in plot, cast, and drama. One critic notes that the film is "a perfectly pitched and quite heartwarming drama about friendship and promises, with a welcome drop of dark humour." Several magazines, meanwhile, including Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
and that's Beijing
That's Beijing
that's Beijing is a free monthly English magazine that covers art, cinema, music, nightlife, dining, and health in Beijing. Formerly produced by True Run Media, it was taken over by China Intercontinental Press in 2008 and is now very much a "state-owned" product in quality and editorial direction...
praised the performance of Zhao Benshan
Zhao Benshan
Zhao Benshan is a Chinese skit and sitcom actor, and recently turned TV director. He appears regularly on the CCTV New Year's Gala.-Biography:...
in particular as "finely calibrated" and "vivid" respectively.
External links
- Getting Home at the Chinese Movie Database
- Getting Home from distributor Fortissimo FilmsFortissimo FilmsFortissimo Films is a multi-national film production, sales and distribution company. The company has been behind such East Asian films as Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love, the Thai films Tears of the Black Tiger and Last Life in the Universe, as well as such independent films as Pleasure...