Postmen in the Mountains

1999 Chinese film

Postmen in the Mountains

Traditional Chinese| 那山那人那狗
Simplified Chinese| 那山那人那狗
Hanyu Pinyin| Nàshān nàrén nàgǒu
Directed by| Huo Jianqi
Written by| Si Wu
Based on| "Postmen in the Mountains"
by Peng Jianmin
Produced by| Kang Jianmin
Starring| Teng Rujun
Liu Ye
Cinematography| Zhao Lei
Music by| Wang Xiaofeng

Release date

* 1999 (1999)

Running time

| 93 minutes
Country| China
Language| Mandarin

Postmen in the Mountains (Chinese: 那山那人那狗; pinyin: Nàshān nàrén nàgǒu; lit. 'That Mountain', 'That Man', 'That Dog') is a 1999 Chinese film directed by Huo Jianqi. It is based on the short story of the same name by Peng Jianming (彭见明).

Postmen in the Mountains tells the story of an old man (Teng Rujun) who for years served as the postman for rural mountain communities. Retiring, he hands over his job to his son (Liu Ye), but accompanies him on the first tour. Together, they deliver mail on a 230 li (about 115 km) long walking route, into the rural heart of China and in the process the son learns from the mails' recipients more about the father he hardly knew.

It was filmed on location in Suining County and Dao County, in southwestern and southern Hunan. A portion of the film takes place in a village of the Dong people, including an evening festival featuring a lusheng dance.

## Plot

[edit]

The film is set in the mountainous regions of the western Hunan province in the early 1980s. At the film's start, a young man (Liu Ye) begins his first journey as a postman at the mountainous rural areas of the aforesaid regions. His father (Teng Rujun), a veteran postman forced to retire due to a bad knee, decides to accompany him together with the family's faithful dog, Buddy.

The father walks his son through the nitty-gritty of the job, and the son realizes the mailman job entails not just the sending of letters. He witnesses his father's deep friendship with the villagers, and participates in a wedding celebration with the Dong people. The film includes a number of memory flashbacks, as well as many pop songs played on the son's transistor radio (including Michael Learns to Rock's "That's Why You Go Away", which is an anachronism given that the film is set in the early 1980s).

## Reception

[edit]

Postmen was well received both abroad and at home in China where it won both Best Film and Best Actor (for Teng Rujun) at the Golden Rooster Awards in 1999.

### Awards and nominations

[edit]

* Golden Rooster Awards, 1999
* Best Actor – Teng Rujun
* Best Film
* Awards of the Japanese Academy, 2002
* Best Foreign Film (nominated)
* Mainichi Film Concours, 2002
* Best Foreign Language Film
* Montréal World Film Festival, 2002
* People's Choice Award
* Grand Prix des Amériques (nominated)

## External links

[edit]

* Postmen in the Mountains at IMDb
* Postmen in the Mountains at Rotten Tomatoes

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Huo Jianqi

* Postmen in the Mountains (1999)
* Life Show (2002)
* Nuan (2003)
* A Time to Love (2005)
* Falling Flowers (2012)
* Love in the 1980s (2015)
* Xuanzang (2017)

Awards for Postmen in the Mountains

* v
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* e

Golden Rooster Award for Best Picture

1980s|

* Evening Rain (1981)
* Legend of Tianyun Mountain (1981)
* Neighbor (1982)
* Rickshaw Boy (1983)
* At Middle Age (1983)
* Voice from Hometown (1984)
* The Girl in Red (1985)
* Wild Mountains (1986)
* Dr. Sun Yat-sen (1987)
* Hibiscus Town (1987)
* Red Sorghum (1988)
* Old Well (1988)

1990s|

* Founding Ceremony (1990)
* Jiao Yulu (1991)
* Decisive Engagement: The Liaoxi-Shenyang Campaign (1992)
* The Story of Qiu Ju (1993)
* Country Teachers (1994)
* The Accused Uncle Shangang (1995)
* Red Cherry (1996)
* The Opium War (1997)
* Live in Peace (1998)
* Postmen in the Mountains (1999)

2000s|

* The Road Home (2000)
* Roaring Across the Horizon (2000)
* Fatal Decision (2000)
* Mao Zedong, 1925 (2001)
* Pretty Big Feet (2002)
* Charging Out Amazon (2002)
* The River Wild (2003)
* Nuan (2003)
* Shanghai Story (2004)
* On the Mountain of Tai Hang (2005)
* Mountain Patrol: Kekexili (2005)
* The Knot (2007)
* Assembly (2009)
* Forever Enthralled (2009)

2010s|

* Shenzhou 11 (2011)
* American Dreams in China (2013)
* The Story of Zhou Enlai (2013)
* Wolf Totem (2015)
* Operation Mekong (2017)
* The Wandering Earth (2019)

2020s|

* Leap (2020)
* Island Keeper (2021)
* The Battle at Lake Changjin (2022)
* Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (2023)

* v
* t
* e

Mainichi Film Award for Foreign Film Best One Award

* Sophie's Choice (1983)
* The Dresser (1984)
* A Sunday in the Country (1985)
* The Purple Rose of Cairo (1986)
* The Trip to Bountiful (1987)
* Hope and Glory (1988)
* Cinema Paradiso (1989)
* A City of Sadness (1990)
* Dances With Wolves (1991)
* JFK (1992)
* Unforgiven (1993)
* Farewell My Concubine (1994)
* The Shawshank Redemption (1995)
* Ulysses' Gaze (1996)
* The English Patient (1997)
* L.A. Confidential (1998)
* Shakespeare in Love (1999)
* Space Cowboys (2000)
* Postmen in the Mountains (2001)
* Devils on the Doorstep (2002)
* The Pianist (2003)
* Mystic River (2004)
* Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
* Still Life (2007)
* The Dark Knight (2008)
* Gran Torino (2009)
* Breathless (2010)
* The King's Speech (2011)
* Hugo (2012)
* Amour (2013)
* Boyhood (2014)
* Birdman (2015)
* Sully (2016)
* I, Daniel Blake (2017)
* Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2018)
* Joker (2019)
* Parasite (2020)
* Nomadland (2021)
* Belfast (2022)
* Tár (2023)
* Oppenheimer (2024)

* v
* t
* e

IFFI Special Jury Award and Special Mention

Special Jury Award (1969–present)|

* Lester James Peries (4th)
* Mrinal Sen (4th)
* Sobhan Babu (4th)
* Santwana Bardoloi (29th)
* Huo Jianqi (31st)
* Revathi (33rd)
* Magdy Ahmed Ali (33rd)
* Subhadro Chowdhury (34th)
* Gennady Sidorov (35th)
* Tom Hooper (36th)
* Abu Sayeed (37th)
* Golam Rabanny Biplab (38th)
* Julia Urbini (38th)
* Malini Fonseka (39th)
* Giorgi Ovashvili (40th)
* Kaushik Ganguly (41st)
* Taika Waititi (41st)
* Salim Ahamed (42nd)
* Lucy Mulloy (43rd)
* Onur Ünlü (44th)
* Julia Vargas-Weise (46th)
* Lee Joon-ik (47th)
* Mahesh Narayanan (48th)
* Milko Lazarov (49th)
* Pema Tseden (50th)
* Kamen Kalev (51st)
* Renata Carvalho (52nd)
* Nikhil Mahajan (52nd)
* Lav Diaz (53rd)
* Rishab Shetty (54th)
* Louise Courvoisier (55th)

Special Mention (2015–present)|

* Goran Radovaovic (46th)
* Tiffany Hsiung (47th)
* Chezhiyan (49th)
* Abhishek Shah (50th)
* Kripal Kalita (51st)
* Simon Farriol (52nd)
* Roman Vasyanov (52nd)
* Praveen Kandregula (53rd)

Centenary Award (2012–2014)|

* Mira Nair (43rd)
* Kamaleshwar Mukherjee (44th)
* Shrihari Sathe (45th)

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