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Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
Editor's Note
Chen Kaige's LIFE ON A STRING, based on a story by Tiesheng Shi, tells the tale of an old blind musician who, when he was a young boy, was told that he would be cured of his affliction after he broke 1000 strings on his instrument. The old master (Liu Zhongyuan) has become a grizzled, saintly figure in pursuit of his goal of sight. His student, Shitou (Huang Lei)--also blind--wants a different sort of life from his ascetic master, desiring romance, and when he meets and falls in love with a young villager (Xu Qing), he goes against his master's wishes to be with her. As the elderly musician approaches the time when he will break the fateful string--as well as his own death--he is forced to question his faith and his many philosophical differences with his youthful apprentice. As in Kaige's earlier film YELLOW EARTH, LIFE ON A STRING is saturated with wondrous folk music from Chinese composer Xiao-Song Qu. Thoughtful and lyrical in its portrayal of inner vision and spiritual faith, Kaige's deceptively simple fable is a mysterious and beautifully shot meditation on the thin, fraying strings separating vision from blindness, music from silence, and life from whatever comes next.
| Features | Region 1 | | Keep Case | | Letterbox - 1.85 | | Audio:
| Stereo - Mandarin | | Subtitles - English - Optional | | Interactive Features:
| Interactive Menus | | Scene Access |
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| Technical Info
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Release Information
|  | Studio: Kino Video |
| Release Date: 1/8/2002 |
| Running Time: 107 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1991 | | Catalog ID: 2332 | | UPC: 00738329023324 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: Mandarin | | Available Audio Tracks: Mandarin | | Available Subtitles: English | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Sight and Sound
"...Chen Kaige has never stopped asking questions..." 03/01/1992 p.36-7New York Times
"...Epic....LIFE ON A STRING regularly yields images of haunting mystery..." 09/29/1991 p.54 Film Comment
"...Clearly the work of a visionary filmmaker..." 11/01/1991 p.50-3 Los Angeles Times
"...[The] highly stylized, awesomely beautiful LIFE ON A STRING casts its spell from the first frame and holds it to the fade-out..." 06/12/1992 p.F10 |
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