Huo Jianqi, former art director for noted Chinese filmmaker Tian Zhuangzhuang, debuted with this delicately wrought, beautifully photographed drama about delivering the mail to remote mountain villages in southeastern China's Hunan province. A father (Teng Rujun) prepares to hand his 112-mile mail route over to his son. At dawn, the two embark on the three-day round trip on foot. Traveling along the rugged landscape of wind-blown hills, craggy rocks, and winding rivers, the son learns not only about the isolated communities to which they deliver mail but also about his own father. Postmen in the Mountains was screened at the 1999 Montreal Film Festival.
~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide