A bank robber's son ditches capitalism to chase monks through misty mountains.
The film follows Bill’s adventures as a child of a bank robber, raised in a gilded household, who turned his back on American devotion to materialism and went off to live in monasteries and mountains in Taiwan. He pursued a fascination with Buddhism and poetry and traveled to remote regions of China to rediscover an ancient tradition of mountain hermits vital to Chinese culture.
Direction
Serrill lets landscapes breathe like silent co-stars.
Production
Remote Chinese locations most crews would never reach.
Writing
Porter's self-narration: dry wit, zero pretension.
Director
Ward Serrill
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Porter's actual pen name 'Red Pine' comes from the Taoist immortal Ch'ih Sung-tzu—he literally named himself after a myth.
The film quietly argues that American translators of Chinese poetry often miss the mountain because they're staring at the words.
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