Zhou Yu's Train (2004)

The iconically placid beauty Gong Li from ''Raise the Red Lantern'' usually represents all that's cover-girl serene in Chinese art-house cinema. But playing the title character in the gauzy, Westernized contemporary romantic drama Zhou Yu's Train, Gong almost breaks a sweat – almost -- as a woman wafting between two lovers. One's a commitment-phobic poet (Tony Leung Ka Fai, not to be confused with Tony Leung Chiu Wai from ''In the Mood for Love''); the other's a livelier veterinarian (Honglei Sun) who tries to persuade Zhou to wake up and dump the withholding mope. The train she takes from A to B rocks with its own sexual symbolism. Directed by Sun Zhou, the movie follows convoluted narrative tracks. By the end of the drowsy journey, the characters are indistinguishable from the scenery.