Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005)
Directed by Zhang Yimou
An elderly Japanese fisherman, estranged from his dying son, travels to Yunnan to film a mask opera his son wanted to record, and the quest takes him from Lijiang to a remote prison and a mountain village.
- Travel shown
- On foot, bike, skis or swimming
- Not shown on screen
- Fictional place
- 1Akita, Japan≈ 00:01:00Stated on screen
Living alone by the sea, Gouichi hears his son Kenichi is ill.
- 2Hospital≈ 00:05:00Tokyo, JapanStated on screen
At the Tokyo hospital Kenichi refuses to see him; Rie gives him a video of Li Jiamin.
- 3Lijiang, Yunnan, China≈ 00:12:00Stated on screen
Gouichi finds Li Jiamin is in prison and battles bureaucracy for permission to film.
- 4Prison in Yunnan (fictional)≈ 00:35:00InferredFictional
Li breaks down longing for his son.
- 5Stone Village, Yunnan≈ 00:45:00Stated on screenFictional
- 6Night in the hills≈ 01:10:00Stone Village, YunnanInferredFictional
- 7Prison in Yunnan (fictional)≈ 01:30:00InferredFictional
The journey in numbers
- Distance travelled
- 4,430 km
- Places
- 5
- Countries
- 2
- Stops
- 7
- Plane: 3,845 km
- Not shown: 507 km
- Car: 78 km
Distances are measured in a straight line between stops, so real road distances are longer.
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Every journey is checked against the film, but we can still get things wrong.