“Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles”Sony Pictures ClassicsDirected by Yimou Zhang Written by Yimou Zhang and Jingzhi ZouStarring: Ken Takakura, Shinobu Terajima, Jiamin Li, Lin Qiu, Jiang Wen and Zhenbo YangRated PG/107 minutesOpened Nov. 10, 2006Two-and-a-half out of four stars

Yimou Zhang’s “Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles” has that most rare of things: sincere goodness, through and through. Not for one second did I doubt that everything would turn out all right in the end, that everyone involved would become wiser and more sympathetic from knowing the kind Mr. Takata (Ken Takakura) and helping him on his mission. What an absolutely harmless movie this is, full of beautiful images of near sleepy serenity. The mood is so precious that even scenes in a Chinese prison seem sunny.

Takata’s journey to reconnect with his estranged and dying son takes him from Japan to China’s Yunnan province to tape the performance of his son’s favorite folk-opera star. This indirect way of winning back his son’s love brings Takata into contact with many friendly, reasonable and patient people who listen and cooperate like good-hearted characters from a children’s book. That’s a fair comparison–this PG-rated movie assumes an optimistic, childlike view of the world, a place in which total strangers would rather lend you a hand than rob you blind.

Which doesn’t mean that Takata avoids his fair share of difficulties. He discovers that the opera star (Jiamin Li) is in prison and won’t perform because he misses the 5-year-old son he’s never met. Takata then goes to fetch the man’s son, which leads to more complications when the son, Yang Yang (Zhenbo Yang), gets lost in the mountains.

We figure out pretty early that Takata’s sad story will bring out the best in the strangers he meets, which puts the movie on a predictable path: Whatever obstacle, dilemma or stubborn face Takata encounters, we know it will be vanquished by the desire to do the selfless, good thing.

When Takata returns to the prison, he shows the opera star and an audience of inmates a Kodak-moment-cute picture of Yang Yang. Cue shots of tearful criminals. Now, I don’t doubt that some of these men would cry. I just couldn’t stop thinking about their tougher, more cynical cellmates who were probably rolling their eyes, just like me.

“Wow, what a beautiful place. I think I’ll sleep right here. On the street.” Ken Takakura chills out on a picturesque street in “Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.”