Child
prodigies would not exist without pushy parents and extraordinary
teachers, but the talented children rarely lead normal
lives as members of a family, since destiny calls them
to share their talents with the world. In The Luzhin
Defense (2001), a Russian chess prodigy comes to a tragic end.
A happier ending is presented in Together (He ni
zai yi qi), directed by Political Film Society awardwinner Chen
Kaige, who portrays the deep emotional stresses of Xiaochun
(played by Tang Yun), a thirteen-year-old violin prodigy,
as well as those of his father Liu Cheng (played by Liu
Peiqi), a chef in a provincial Chinese city. When the film
begins, Liu Cheng is determined to bring fame and fortune
to his son, who has won yearly awards in the province,
so they travel from the countryside to Beijing in order
to find a teacher who can cultivate Xiaochun's abilities.
Lacking funds and connections, they cannot buy their way
to admission to a prestigious music academy, as is common.
Professor Yu Shifeng (played by the director himself),
a distinguished teacher, initially spurns them, so they
instead prevail upon Professor Jiang (played by Wang Zhwen),
who agrees to accept modest payment because Xiaochun is
obviously on the road to becoming a consummate violinist;
he plays from the heart, a predictor of greatness. For
lodging, they find a one-room apartment, possibly an abandoned
garage, near a more fashionable building that happens to
have a vain and temperamental beauty, Lili (played by the
director's spouse, Chen Hong), on an upper floor. Xiaochun
and Lili become acquainted, the latter appearing to seek
her company as a big sister or surrogate mother, a role
that she increasingly enjoys. In time, Jiang confesses
that he lacks the connections to propel Xiaochun to stardom
as a concert violinist, so Xiaochun pawns his violin, using
the money to buy a fashionable coat for Lili, thus repaying
her for her kindness. Meanwhile, his father entreats Professor
Yu, who has better connections, to be his new teacher.
After an emotional crisis about whether Xiaochun really
wants to continue as a violin prodigy, Yu invites Xiaochun
to move into his apartment, where he is also sponsoring
a female child prodigy, Lin Yu (played by Qing Zhang).
Since Liu Cheng believes that he has no further role as
Xiaochun's parent, he declares that he will be returning
to the province, whereupon his son feels rejected. On the
day of the competition, after Professor Yu tells Xiaochun
that he, not his female rival, will play with the symphony
that night, secrets begin to emerge. One is that Liu Cheng
picked up Xiaochun in a train station as an abandoned baby,
along with a violin placed next to him. Liu Cheng, thus,
is not Xiaochun's birthfather. A second secret is that
Professor Yu bought Xiaochun's violin at the pawnshop,
intending to return the instrument to him if he failed
to progress toward the goal of fame and fortune. Xiaochun
then has a choice, as his father is allowing him the freedom
to become his own person at an early age. Either he will
perform at the concert or he will return the extraordinary
love of his adoptive father by joining him before he boards
a train for the province. The title of the film is the
best clue about the ending of the deeply touching film
that holds traditional family relationships in higher esteem
than material success. For those who enjoy concert violin
music, Together provides an ecstasy of beautiful music,
played by Chuangyun Li. MH
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