Last Train Home

Heartbreaking stuff. Seeing migrant workers forced to leave their families behind to work non-stop under crummy conditions simply to give their children a chance at a life better than theirs... and seeing those same children, who don't see their parents for 95% of the year, feel no connection to them at all... Yeah, that's some heavy shit.

Superb documentary about a Chinese family driven apart because the parents spend most of their lives working at a city factory hundreds of miles away. Tensions flare until an explosive confrontation erupts. This is riveting stuff. By keeping focused on a few individuals, Lixin Fan maintains personal dramatic intrigue throughout the film, while keeping the problems of migrant workers as a whole in mind. The cinematography is also exceptionally good for a documentary. Powerful and gripping.

New Year's travel in China is obviously a nightmare for everyone involved, and the film shows that very well, though I'm not completely sold on its choice to focus so strongly on one family in particular. There's a danger when filming a documentary like this that its subjects will act drastically different with a camera on them, and one family conflict toward the end seems to have escalated because no one involved wanted to be preserved on film admitting they were wrong.

Parents give up their lives to work in soul-crushing conditions to make money to support their family. The children feel abandoned and unloved due to their absence. A situation that could be seen as neglect or disrespect is neither, instead just an everyday result of the miserable conditions in which many rural Chinese live in the wake of global capitalism. It's a portrait of one family, but this drama plays itself out millions of times over in the country.

Great subject for a documentary, but the focus on the one family and the girl in particular doesn't work. The focus is too narrow for such a huge topic. Moreover, a lot of the time towards the end of the movie it just feels like the girl is playing up for the camera crew (getting her hair done, going to the nightclub). Still it was a good introduction to the topic, but the treatment felt a bit forced and left me asking "is this really a typical story?" (even though in fact it probably is)

Wow. What an INCREDIBLY boring documentary

It had potential, as an idea, but is poorly executed. The cinematography is inconsistent, and the characters are underdeveloped. There isn't enough (any) commentary about Chinese families, etc.

A great documentary. Very personal, human and sad.

Absolutely incredible. Intimate and personal while also revealing broad societal truths. It is so well shot that you almost question whether it is a documentary at all.

subat 11, ifistanbul 2011 & If'te izledigim son film 'last train home' icindeki kavga sahnesiyle beni cezbetti. Onun disinda sikiciydi- etkisizdi. Belki de gereksizdi.

"Lixin's approach in the film has been to withhold direct commentary, either in the form of narration or on-screen interviews with her subjects." - Andrew Schenker

A nightmare just thinking of trying to get on a train during the new years. The family dynamics are interesting, even getting to a point of the daughter and father in a physical altercation.

Beautifully executed and a very harsh look at an incredibly fragmented, multi-generational family.

Gives an interesting insight in the perils of the Chinese workers migrating back home every springfestival, but as strong as the start is, something is lost halfway. A little bit more exploration of the daugther's life would make it much more interesting.