Postmen in the Mountains

Father (Teng Rujun) has been a postman all his life. His job was to deliver mails into the remote mountain area by foot. He is at his late 40s. Poor health forces him to retire. He cannot trust anyone else but his son (Liu Ye) to take over the job. That very morning, Son is going to be on his first trip as a postman. It's going to be a 3-day trip. Father cannot rest at ease insisting that he would go also.



Father, Son and the dog are on the road.



This is Son's first trip and Father's last. They have never taken a trip together.

The mountain paths are so familiar under Father's feet. However walking with his own son makes him feel so strange. He has so much in mind to say to him but whatever comes out of his mouth is all about the job. And Son doesn't even know how to address his own father properly. The word "father" sounds so awkward to pronounce.

The trip is not as easy as Son thought it would be. Walking in the endless zigzag paths through mountains where hardly can you meet a person, Son realizes how much Father has contributed to his work and the people who depend on him to get messages out to and from outside world and how much Mother has given up to support the family. Father, in his eyes, is no longer that tall, that distant as he can remember from the memory of his childhood. He's thin and common.

When they finally get to a creek for a shortcut, Son insists that Father should never touch cold water again. He wades across the creek with his father on his shoulders. The distance between Father and Son vapors away. It recalls Father how he used to carry Son, which doesn't sound that long ago. At that moment, he knows he's getting old...



"quietly thrilling from start to finish"
-- Don Willmott, FILMCRITIC.COM



"Beautifully shot in austere, yet lush, mountainous territory, the movie quietens the spirit into almost trancelike contemplation of the huge emotions that surge through the most insignificant lives."
-- Ella Taylor, L.A. WEEKLY



"A work of exquisitely wrought simplicity."
-- Kevin Thomas, LOS ANGELES TIMES