Review of He ni zai yi qi

I don't know where Chen Kaige has been since *Huang tu di* (Yellow Earth, 1984), a powerful and artful work, and one of my favorite Chinese films -- and from the looks of things, Chen doesn't know either. He ni zai yi qi (literally "together with you") is sappy and cliché-ridden, tired and uninspired and quagmired in its own sentimentality. Chen was wise to cast himself as Professor Yu rather than Professor Jiang, the jaded, cynical musician-teacher, who has long-ago become embittered by the broadly political aspects of artistic success. The allegory to Chen's own career would then probably have been too obvious. This of course might also have been the material for a good film, but Chen gives up before he gets us there. A couple of the actors -- Liu Peiqi (the father) and Wang Zhiwen (Prof Jiang) -- give it their best, but the painted-on tears in several scenes betray the performers lack of belief in the script and direction. Too bad. Let's hope Chen Kaige finds again himself soon. Right now he looks completely lost.