Review | Film review: 10,000 Miles – Sean Huang, Megan Lai run for love in cliched, sentimental sports drama
Gorgeously shot and featuring strong performances from all but the lead actor, this story of a man who runs an ultramarathon along the Silk Road is stilted, syrupy and laden with hackneyed dialogue and plot devices
1.5/5 stars
The Taiwanese drama 10,000 Miles is said to be loosely based on the life of ultramarathon runner Kevin Lin, who famously ran 10,000km along the Silk Road in 2007. For his sake, I hope the “loosely” part is true because the protagonist in this film, named Kevin Fan (played by Sean Huang Yuan), is a pain in the you-know-what.
Set in Taipei in 1994 – for no apparent reason other than for producer Jay Chou to make a cameo as his pre-fame self, since the real-life Lin made the run more than a decade later – the story begins with Kevin demanding to join a high school marathon team on which his brother ( Our Times ’ Darren Wang Da-lu) is the star.
Turned down by the head coach for appropriate reasons (there’s no more room on the team, plus Kevin isn’t that good a runner), the hot-tempered teen begins throwing tantrums – literally, he whines and makes faces – until the team’s assistant coach Ellie (Megan Lai Ya-yan) agrees to train him on the side. Sparks soon fly between the two.
A mid-film injury knocks Kevin out of action just before a big race, which sets off a chain of events that turns everything to hell: Kevin’s father falls ill; his brother turns to a life of crime for personal reasons; Ellie abruptly quits her position and moves back home to her fiancé (introduced in a 30-second scene, and never seen or heard from again); and an orphanage faces sudden foreclosure.
