# Together (和你在一起) (2002 film)
**Together** (和你在一起) is a 2002 Chinese drama film directed by Chen Kaige about a 13-year-old violin prodigy, Liu Xiaochun, and his father Liu Cheng, who leave their small town for Beijing to pursue the boy's musical career. The film runs 116 minutes, is a China–South Korea co-production shot in Mandarin, and marked Chen Kaige's turn from the historical epics of his earlier career toward ordinary, present-day family life.[1](https://mulanfestival.com/together/) • [2](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2002-09-21/1833102204.html) It premiered at the [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival) in September 2002 and went on to win Best Director and Best Actor (Silver Shell) at the 50th San Sebastián International Film Festival.[3](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2002/sections_and_films/official_section/7/500009/in) • [2](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2002-09-21/1833102204.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Title and language | 和你在一起 (*Together*), Mandarin with English subtitles; 116 minutes, 35mm[1](https://mulanfestival.com/together/) |
| Director and writers | Directed by Chen Kaige; screenplay by Chen Kaige and Xue Xiaolu[1](https://mulanfestival.com/together/) • [4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2003/archive-1/together/) |
| Principal cast | Liu Peiqi (Liu Cheng), Tang Yun (Liu Xiaochun), Wang Zhiwen (Prof. Jiang), Chen Hong (Lili), Chen Kaige (Prof. Yu)[5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/together-2003) |
| World premiere | Toronto International Film Festival, September 2002; mainland China release 20 September 2002, with wide release from 27 September[2](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2002-09-21/1833102204.html) |
| Awards | Silver Shell for Best Director and Best Actor at the 50th San Sebastián festival; Audience Award at Tribeca 2003; Best Director and other honors at the 22nd Golden Rooster Awards[3](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2002/sections_and_films/official_section/7/500009/in) • [4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2003/archive-1/together/) • [6](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/55450/) |
| Violin performance | All violin concertos performed by the young virtuoso Li Chuanyun, who also appears as the character Tang Rong[6](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/55450/) • [7](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2002-09-04/134998903.html) |
| Music | Score by Zhao Lin, built around Western classical violin works[4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2003/archive-1/together/) • [4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2003/archive-1/together/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Liu Xiaochun (唐韵/Tang Yun) is a shy 13-year-old violin prodigy living with his widowed father Liu Cheng (刘佩琦/Liu Peiqi), a cook, in a small town in southern China. Believing his son's talent should not be buried by the family's poverty, Liu Cheng takes the boy to Beijing, carrying his savings in a red peasant's hat, to find a worthy teacher.[5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/together-2003) • [8](https://www.donga.com/cn/article/all/20030306/318176/1)
In Beijing the boy first studies under Professor Jiang (王志文/Wang Zhiwen), a solitary, eccentric teacher who teaches him what emotionally felt playing means. Xiaochun also grows attached to Lili (陈红/[Chen Hong](https://www.edgepedia.org/chen-hong)), a glamorous neighbor whose uncertain livelihood and tangled love life bring father and son both worry and warmth.[8](https://www.donga.com/cn/article/all/20030306/318176/1) • [9](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2002-09-13/1000100439.html) Anxious for the boy's advancement, Liu Cheng eventually persuades the prestigious Professor Yu (陈凯歌/Chen Kaige) to take Xiaochun as a student and dismisses Professor Jiang.[8](https://www.donga.com/cn/article/all/20030306/318176/1)
Under Yu's demanding instruction Xiaochun gains a place on the world stage, including a chance at an international competition, but he feels increasingly empty. At the climax, Professor Yu tells Xiaochun that Liu Cheng found him abandoned as an infant and raised him as his own, hoping to unlock the emotional power of his playing.[3](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2002/sections_and_films/official_section/7/500009/in) In the finale, as his father prepares to return home, Xiaochun realizes that success without happiness is meaningless; he gives up the competition and finds his father at [Beijing railway station](https://www.edgepedia.org/beijing-railway-station), where he plays his violin in tears in what the film presents as the finest performance of his life.[8](https://www.donga.com/cn/article/all/20030306/318176/1) • [10](https://ent.sina.com.cn/r/m/2002-09-24/0844102623.html) The final sequence cross-cuts between the boy playing for his father at the station and the conductor in the grand competition hall.[10](https://ent.sina.com.cn/r/m/2002-09-24/0844102623.html)
## Production
**Casting.** Chen Kaige drew directly on musicians' lives. Tang Yun, who played Xiaochun, was a violin student at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music's affiliated middle school; to shoot the ending he worked 19 consecutive hours.[7](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2002-09-04/134998903.html) • [8](https://www.donga.com/cn/article/all/20030306/318176/1) The screenwriter Xue Xiaolu (薛晓路) was a graduate of Beijing Film Academy's literature department.[7](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2002-09-04/134998903.html) The photography was by Kim Hyung-koo and the music by Zhao Lin.[4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2003/archive-1/together/)
**The violin music.** Through Lin Yaoji, a professor at the Central Conservatory of Music, Chen Kaige met the young violinist Li Chuanyun (李传韵) and invited him to perform all the violin concertos in the film; he also plays the character Tang Rong.[6](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/55450/) • [7](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2002-09-04/134998903.html) Chen, who considered Li a favorite among young musicians, listened to Tchaikovsky's violin concerto with him during production and even brought the actor playing the father to listen, reasoning that although the father character need not show musical knowledge, the performer had to be in tune with the music.[6](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/55450/)
**Personal roots.** Chen's choice of a musician's story grew from his own music bond. As a boy he was drawn to music through his sister's piano study, briefly learned violin from a severe teacher whose practice room he dreaded, and gave up after three years; music nonetheless remained part of his life through collecting recordings of classical works.[6](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/55450/) The *Seattle Post-Intelligencer* reviewer reported that Chen plays a version of his own violin teacher in the final scenes and described the film as his way of working through his [Cultural Revolution](https://www.edgepedia.org/cultural-revolution) memories, when music was outlawed and he was forced to renounce his father.[11](https://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/movies/article/big-hearted-sincerity-of-together-makes-it-a-1116412.php) Many viewers heard echoes of another violin childhood as well: the pianist [Lang Lang](https://www.edgepedia.org/lang-lang) said watching the film moved him to tears and that the story mirrors the experience of China's many piano- and violin-studying children, including his own.[6](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/55450/)
## Release
The film premiered globally at Toronto's Uptown cinema in the early hours of 11 September 2002, Beijing time, and arrived on the Chinese market carrying that festival acclaim.[9](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2002-09-13/1000100439.html) • [2](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2002-09-21/1833102204.html) Chen chose the eve of the [Mid-Autumn Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/mid-autumn-festival) for the domestic premiere at the Youth Palace in Beijing, a deliberately modest event compared with the 1-million-yuan ceremony for his earlier *The Emperor and the Assassin*, to press the film's message that being together brings happiness and its absence brings loss.[2](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2002-09-21/1833102204.html) After a week of previews at Beijing cinemas, the film's full release followed on 27 September 2002.[2](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2002-09-21/1833102204.html) Later festival play included [Rotterdam](https://www.edgepedia.org/rotterdam) and Sydney in 2003, alongside Toronto and London in 2002.[4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2003/archive-1/together/)
## Reception and themes
**A deliberate change of direction.** Chinese press called the film Chen's transformation work (转型之作): he set aside the heavy historical feeling of *The Emperor and the Assassin* and *Killing Me Softly* and turned to the emotional life of ordinary people, arguing that filmmakers must first consider how to close the distance with their audience.[2](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2002-09-21/1833102204.html) Screen's review at Toronto noted US buyers scrambling for the film and placed it among crowd-pleasing foreign weepies such as *Cinema Paradiso* and *Life Is Beautiful*, praising the music, the tender performances, and the window into the world of professional musicians in China while faulting a muddled storyline.[12](https://www.screendaily.com/together-han-ni-zai-yiki/4010559.article)
**Western critics.** Roger Ebert, the longtime *Chicago Sun-Times* critic, gave the film a warm review, calling it a movie "not embarrassed by strong, basic emotions like love and ambition" with the nerve to end in open melodrama and mean it, and noting that for Chen the film was a comeback after *Temptress Moon* (1996) and *The Emperor and the Assassin* (1999).[5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/together-2003) Critics diverged over the sentiment: one Seattle reviewer saw a likely art-house-to-mainstream crossover, while others found the ending predictable or the sentiment borderline mawkish; across 37 collected professional reviews the average score was 72%.[11](https://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/movies/article/big-hearted-sincerity-of-together-makes-it-a-1116412.php) • [13](https://www.cinafilm.com/movies/together-2002/critic-reviews/)
**Old and new China.** Reviewers repeatedly read the film as a portrait of a country in transition: the Dong-A Ilbo's feature described Beijing as an alien world where money buys competition prizes and values shift before capitalism has even taken root, and quoted Chen posing the question of whether success or happiness matters more, a question he called one all [Chinese people](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinese-people) faced at the time.[8](https://www.donga.com/cn/article/all/20030306/318176/1) Ebert likewise saw "a story about the old and new China, set in old and new Beijing," with imagery contrasting ancient Beijing with a modern, materialist city.[5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/together-2003) • [14](https://exclaim.ca/film/article/together-chen_kaige) Chen answered his own question in favor of happiness, saying that in the materially scarce Cultural Revolution years he could not have answered so confidently, and that the film expressed ideas long buried in his heart from that era.[8](https://www.donga.com/cn/article/all/20030306/318176/1) A Chinese review counted the story as one that could happen to any of China's more than one million children studying violin, caught between success and becoming a whole person.[10](https://ent.sina.com.cn/r/m/2002-09-24/0844102623.html)
**Awards.** At the 50th San Sebastián International Film Festival the film took the Silver Shell for Best Director and the Silver Shell for Best Actor.[3](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2002/sections_and_films/official_section/7/500009/in) It won the Audience Award at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival.[4](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2003/archive-1/together/) At home it received Best Director and other honors at the 22nd Golden Rooster Awards.[6](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/55450/) On the 1905.com database the film holds a user score of 7.2.[6](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/55450/)
## References
1. [Together with You 和你在一起, Mulan International Film Festival](https://mulanfestival.com/together/)
2. [陈凯歌《和你在一起》中秋前夜常规首映, 北京晚报 via Sina (21 September 2002)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2002-09-21/1833102204.html)
3. [Han ni zai yiqi (Together), 2002 Official Section, San Sebastián Film Festival](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2002/sections_and_films/official_section/7/500009/in)
4. [Together (He Ni Zaiyiqi), NZIFF 2003 archive](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2003/archive-1/together/)
5. [Roger Ebert, review of Together (2003), rogerebert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/together-2003)
6. [和你在一起 Together (2002), 1905电影网](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/55450/)
7. [资料：《和你在一起》主创、主演人员简介, Sina (4 September 2002)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/2002-09-04/134998903.html)
8. [情系小提琴《和你在一起》, Dong-A Ilbo (6 March 2003)](https://www.donga.com/cn/article/all/20030306/318176/1)
9. [陈凯歌亲情大片《和你在一起》震撼国际影坛, Sina (13 September 2002)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2002-09-13/1000100439.html)
10. [《和你在一起》：在音乐中流淌亲情, Sina (24 September 2002)](https://ent.sina.com.cn/r/m/2002-09-24/0844102623.html)
11. [Big-hearted sincerity of 'Together', Seattle Post-Intelligencer](https://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/movies/article/big-hearted-sincerity-of-together-makes-it-a-1116412.php)
12. [Together (Han Ni Zai Yiki), Screen Daily (19 September 2002)](https://www.screendaily.com/together-han-ni-zai-yiki/4010559.article)
13. [Together (2002) Critic Reviews, Cinafilm](https://www.cinafilm.com/movies/together-2002/critic-reviews/)
14. [Together review, Exclaim! (1 December 2003)](https://exclaim.ca/film/article/together-chen_kaige)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Sports and music drama films 2000s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license