Rail Truck (DVD) (2-Disc Edition) (Taiwan Version)

Product Description

Originally based on the classic short story by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, the film version of Torroco
- or Rail Truck
- sees its setting changed from the Japanese seaside to the Taiwanese countryside. Writer-director Kawaguchi Hirofumi adds a considerable amount of material on top of the Akutagawas short tale about a boy who travels too far on an abandoned rail truck, creating a new story about the sometimes-tumultuous Taiwan-Japan relationship & children maturing in the face of tragic circumstances. Marvelously captured by cinematographer Mark Lee ( Norwegian Wood), the serene images of the Hualiens Lintienshan area in Rail Truck play just as big a role as its human characters.

When her Taiwanese husband dies, Yumiko (Ono Machiko) goes to his hometown with their two sons with his ashes. In an environment completely different than their own, the children wander around town as they try to deal with culture shock & their fathers death at once. One day, the children discover a rail truck up to the mountains owned by a local gardener & decide to ride it into the mountains. Meanwhile, Yumikos presence causes her Japanese-speaking Taiwanese father-in-law to once again feel the pain of abandonment by the Japanese government when the colonization period ended.

This edition

Includes:: two documentaries on the Lintienshan area, where the film was shot, & footage of star Ono Machikos visit to the Asia Pacific Film Festival.