Friday, February 25
Zhou Yu's Train
dir. Zhou Sun, China 2004

Gong Li plays two women in "Zhou Yu's Train.'' Or rather, one and a half, since the second woman is more a storytelling tool than a real character. More impressive is the duality the actress achieves in portraying the title character, a woman torn between two men. Her rich performance anchors this intriguing brain-teaser from filmmaker Sun Zhou, Gong's collaborator on "Breaking the Silence.''

A young woman (Gong is 38 but looks a decade younger) with two boyfriends is a scandalous premise for a picture made in China. Perhaps that's why Sun offers a time-hopscotching narrative that suggests Zhou Yu isn't seeing both men at the same time. The back-and-forth approach can be confusing, but it doesn't obscure the picture's chief ideas — that the notion of love can outweigh reality, and that a single act or gesture can change a destiny.
- Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle