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Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day

Released Mar 23, 1996 1h 25m Drama List
20% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 40% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
Second-generation Chinese-American John Lee (Peter Alexander) feels a strong connection to the legacy of his Chinese immigrant grandfather, who built train tracks for the First Transcontinental Railroad. When John realizes the rail line from Merced to Yosimite Valley is to be scrapped, he convinces his father to back him in a risky scheme to keep it operational. John pays switchman Skeeter (Michael Stipe) and conductor Robinson (Henry Gibson) to help, but the past may prove beyond his reach.

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Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day

Critics Reviews

View All (5) Critics Reviews
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Eloquent but dull chronice of one man's obsession Rated: C+ May 3, 2011 Full Review Film Threat Rated: 2.5/5 Dec 6, 2005 Full Review Film Threat Rated: 2.5/5 Dec 8, 2002 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews It was a pleasant and unique film, as pleasant as going through a photo album of someone who really loves what he's showing you and you don't know what's coming next. Rated: B Jan 7, 2002 Full Review Christopher Null Filmcritic.com Rated: 1.5/5 Nov 13, 2001 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (5) audience reviews
Audience Member Eloquent but dull chronice of one man's obsession. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review walter m As anybody who has read this film blog over the years can tell you, I am not at all fond of nostalgia. The lone exception to that rule involves trains which is where "Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day" comes in. That, the crisp black and white cinematography and a surprisingly fine turn from Henry Gibson are sadly the only elements that merit the film the barest of recommendations. In the waning days of World War II, John Lee(Peter Alexander), a college engineering dropout who repairs trolleys in Los Angeles, is inspired by tales of his late grandfather, who he never met, working on building the transcontinental railroad to reinvigorate the moribund Yosemite Valley Railroad. So while there is some interesting history on display, it is also a little inaccurate in being about a decade too early in depicting the fall of the railroad and the rise of the automobile and freeway, not to mention the airplane. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member I really wanted to(and expected to) like this movie a lot more than I did. Yeah, some very cool cinematography, but the acting really didn't hit the right notes I don't think. At points it was really good, but the characters were just uneven, some scenes were emotionally spot-on, and the others were totally bizarre. Ant there was all this weird sexual tension going on that was totally out of place or not intended or something that had nothing at all to do with the story, pretty distracting, unless it was supposed to be part of the film which I don't think it was at all. Like weren't they supposed to be brother and sister? Weird. Miachael Stipe was actually really good though, so big props there. The narration, gah! A very worthy effort, but just too clumsy I thought. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member great train movie I love trains Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member [url="http://www.newvideo.com/images/boxart/NVG9578-03.jpg"][img]http://www.newvideo.com/images/boxart/NVG9578-02.jpg[/img][/url] Yes, the cinematography was great (Winner at Sundance), but that is all. I did like the black and white presentation. But the rest was BORING! Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day

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Cast & Crew

A Family Thing 73% 72% A Family Thing The Stars Fell on Henrietta 45% 42% The Stars Fell on Henrietta Sunchaser 17% 42% Sunchaser I'm Not Rappaport 38% 60% I'm Not Rappaport Panther 25% 75% Panther Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Second-generation Chinese-American John Lee (Peter Alexander) feels a strong connection to the legacy of his Chinese immigrant grandfather, who built train tracks for the First Transcontinental Railroad. When John realizes the rail line from Merced to Yosimite Valley is to be scrapped, he convinces his father to back him in a risky scheme to keep it operational. John pays switchman Skeeter (Michael Stipe) and conductor Robinson (Henry Gibson) to help, but the past may prove beyond his reach.
Director
Christopher Munch
Producer
Andrea Sperling
Screenwriter
Christopher Munch
Distributor
New Video Group, Artistic License
Production Co
Blurco, Stark Productions, Antarctic Pictures
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 23, 1996, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 19, 2017
Runtime
1h 25m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
35mm
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