Watch It Now: "Last Train Home"

"Last Train Home" is a stunningly beautiful documentary that tells the story of a family in China struggling with everything from money to raising a teenage daughter. The mother and father, Suqin Chen and Changhua Zhan, respectively, work at a factory in the city making clothing to be exported (with the U.S. presumably being one of the big customers). They are able to travel back home to their rural village only once a year, during Chinese New Year, to see their daughter, Qin, and son, Yang. The opening of the film tells us that families traveling home from the cities during Chinese New Year is the largest migration of humans in the world.

The story could be told in an incredibly sympathetic, contrived manner that I'm sure would pull at your heartstrings in all the obvious ways. But the best part about "Last Train Home" is that it avoids all those pitfalls and simply lets the family's story come about in a completely natural way. You're a fly on the wall, popping in every once and a while over the course of 2 years to check on their progress. The only time we feel self-conscious of this is after an explosive fight between the father and daughter that clearly had been building for years. Qin looks straight at the camera with an accusatory glare and screams right at us. It's enough to make anyone shrink back in their seats with guilt. Even the editing feels delicate and lets scenes play out like they would at any other family dinner. The good, the bad, and the ugly; it's all there.

Another strength to the film is the structure. At the very beginning it looks like the film will be a "will they or won't they" as we see the mother and father struggling to find a train ticket. They talk to co-workers, visit chaotic train stations, and call their kids to let them know it might not happen this year. But rather than focusing on this one visit for the entire film, after the parents finally get their tickets and make it home we only get 2 brief scenes of the family together. And then... it's back to the factory. It isn't much of a pay off but that's why it works so well. For the parents, this is a very small part of their lives so the viewer is treated to the same harsh reality. Rather than being about the "big visit home", the movie is about the monotony of life. Before you know it, the year is up and it's back to the insane train stations to do it all over again.

Often times "Last Train Home" feels like something that takes place in the past and I found myself forgetting that this wasn't some historical account but a reality many people are living right at this very moment. There were several reminders, though, of the contemporary setting: the father bringing home a cell phone for his teenage daughter as a gift and that same daughter waitressing at a dance club for money. The cell phone especially felt like a shock, showing up in the tiny home in a very rural part of China where the ancient-looking grandmother still tends to the farm by hand. Juxtaposition is a huge strength of the film as well, not just with old and new but also the long sweeping shots of the breathtaking countryside versus the dingy city.

An incredibly moving documentary, I found myself emotionally invested in this family's story right from the beginning with hardly any backstory at all. Days after watching it I still find myself wondering what's come of the family members and wishing I could check in for just a minute.

**"Last Train Home" is currently available on Netlix instant.