It is best read as a paean to the power of music -- while it is playing, the film is at its most persuasive.

| Jan 11, 2018

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 1, 2006

Never wavers from its serviceably warm and fuzzy path.

| Original Score: C+ | Mar 19, 2006

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 25, 2003

The performances are all terrific, but Together never jells as a compelling narrative.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jun 29, 2003

It's a touching film in which the actors, including director Chen Kaige in the role of Prof. Yu, deliver heart-touching performances.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 27, 2003

If you're in the mood for tears and triumph, with a dash of exoticism, Together may well be the film for you.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 27, 2003

[T]here's really everything to recommend in here; beautifully directed, wonderfully acted and it's just a great looking film.

| Jun 16, 2003

[Liu's] dreams may not be as vast or grandiose (or bloody) as other Chen characters, but they are immense, and immensely endearing, just the same.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 13, 2003

It's disappointing to watch a filmmaker as gifted as Chen put his talents into the service of a story as blatantly sentimental, stereotypical and unoriginal as Together.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 13, 2003

[Chen] gets realistic and affecting performances from his cast.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 12, 2003

The direction, performances, music and cinematography give Together a unity and wholeness that's increasingly rare in filmmaking of any origin.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 12, 2003

Underneath the exotic gloss, it's still the same old song MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer sold us in the 1940s.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jun 12, 2003

Together is nothing short of a melodious masterpiece.

| Jun 11, 2003

Together features a marvelous array of both Western violin masterpieces and traditional Chinese music.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 6, 2003

Together is powerful in an old-fashioned, big-studio kind of way.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 6, 2003

Denuded of the finery of history, politics, and sex, Chen seems innocently naked. That sort of openness is the point of Together. Yet the film doesn't amount to an emotionally palpable experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 6, 2003

Torpid, syrupy melodrama.

Full Review | Jun 5, 2003

A sometimes sugary melodrama that seems at first to push every sentimental button but becomes a genuinely heartfelt picture, infused with life and warmth in every scene.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 5, 2003

Chen's tale of a violin prodigy and his devoted dad pulls the heartstrings on cue, but the movie's vivid, affecting performances save it from being maudlin.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 2, 2003