Last Train Home
premieres Sept. 27, 2011 on POV
Read what critics have to say about the POV documentary Last Train Home, a heart-stopping journey with the Zhangs, a couple who left infant children behind for factory jobs 16 years ago, hoping their wages would lift their children to a better life.
“It tells the story of a family caught, and possibly crushed, between the past and the future — a story that, on its own, is moving, even heartbreaking. Multiplied by 130 million, it becomes a terrifying and sobering panorama of the present…”
— A.O. Scott, The New York Times
“Remarkable… Fan has visual panache — Last Train Home has some gorgeously composed shots — but he also has something that can’t be taught: The patience and understanding to allow a family to tell their heartbreaking story in their own way…”
— G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
“A miniature masterpiece of documentary observation.”
— Ty Burr, The Boston Globe
“Heartbreaking and humanistic in the best sense.”
— Robert W. Butler, The Kansas City Star
“It’s one of those extraordinary films, like Hoop Dreams, that tells a story the makers could not possibly have anticipated in advance. It works like stunning, grieving fiction.”
— Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“…a documentary that’s lively as well as deep, that’s heartbreaking yet doesn’t wallow in depression.”
— John Powers, NPR
“Lixin plays up the atmospheric underclass misery in service of a beautifully shot, heartbreaking vérité narrative about generation gaps and culture clashes. “
— Noel Murray, AV Club
“A film that puts an achingly human face on complex philosophical issues, Last Train Home is a remarkable piece of work both in terms of its scope and the degree of access Fan has to the family. “
— Todd Brown, Twitch
“Fan has an uncanny ability to capture small moments on film that convey larger truths.”
— John Grassi, PopMatters
“Must see… an exceptional observational documentary…”
— Eugene Hernandez, IndieWIRE
Watch Last Train Home, premiering on PBS, Tuesday, September 27, 2011, at 10 PM. (Check local listings.)
