Last train Home
Composite Score: 84.47
Featuring: Changhua Zhang, Yang Zhang, Suqin Chen, Qin Zhang, and Tingsui Tang
Director: Lixin Fan
Writer: Daniel Cross
Genres: Documentary, Drama
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Box Office: $309,717 worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Last Train Home is a documentary from Canadian-based Chinese director Lixin Fan about a family of migrant workers in China and their struggles to maintain a healthy family life while making enough money to survive in the modernizing world that they live in. The film follows the parents and children of this one family, tracking the parents as they return home once a year at Chinese New Year to spend time with their two children and extended family. Meanwhile, their children stay home and attend school while trying to cope with their parents’ continued absence. By the end of the film, the oldest, daughter Qin, chooses to leave home and seek independent work for herself, leaving her parents hurt but with a renewed focus on maintaining a relationship with their son Yang. The film’s powerful portrayal of the plight of migrant workers and the impact of capitalism on the nation of China make it a documentary worth watching.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
While I do think that telling the story of the Chinese migrant workers is important and that we should seek to raise awareness for the impoverished living in our world, I don’t know that an hour and a half documentary about one specific family is the best format. I found myself only loosely invested in the lives and dramas unfolding on the screen (mostly because they were actual people not living a series of scripted scenarios), and as such, I wasn’t as strongly moved by the documentary’s messaging as I would be had I read an article or seen an expose (or documentary) on the factories and workers as a whole. I think putting real people in front of the camera is an excellent practice (it’s why so many documentaries are on this blog’s list), but in this case, I feel like having more real people would have been better and more effective than just one family.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
In addition to its much-needed message of awareness and empathy, Last Train Home sets itself apart through the filmmaking skills of its director. Part of what holds back its effectiveness (focusing on just one family) also happens to make it a great film. By just focusing on the single family, the film feels more like a drama film than a documentary for most of its runtime, and Lixin Fan does a great job of creating that sensation through his cinematography. The film is not shot in the traditional found-footage, interviews, archival footage methods that you so often see in documentaries. Instead, the filmmakers utilized single camera techniques, turning the world of the factory, the farm, the village, the train station into naturally occurring sets already filled with extras and supporting characters. The whole thing gives the documentary a sense of drama that sets it apart from its counterparts, connecting the story to the audience, even if it is at the expense of the message.
Last Train Home excels through its focus on a unique and necessary subject and a filmmaking style closer to drama films than documentaries, setting itself apart in that world and earning a spot among the Greatest Films of All Time. The sacrifice of message for story does hold the film back a bit in its effectiveness but elevates its entertainment value, engagement, and rewatchability, which should alleviate that dip in efficacy. It is currently available to rent on Apple TV for anyone looking for its streaming home.
