Zhang Yimou, the director of the martial-arts fests "Hero" (a Best Foreign Language Film nominee) and "House of Flying Daggers," returns to more intimate fare with this sentimental character study of a lonely Japanese fisherman (Ken Takakura) who searches all over China on a quest to keep a promise to his dying son (Kiichi Nakai). Yimou cowrote the script with Zou Jingzhi. Shinobu Terajima, Li Jiamin, Qiu Lin, Jiang Wen.