BY Jay Carr, Globe Staff

Simple but heartfelt emotions, conviction, and nobility achieved in pursuit of a calling are never out of date. All three are abundantly present in "Postmen in the Mountains," from China's Huo Jianqi. The film depicts the last rounds of a rural postman forced into retirement by arthritis. Working in a remote but beautiful mountain province, he treks by foot to deliver mail to residents spread over an area that is mostly devoid of roads. For years he has set out, taking a few days to make each circuit. This time he is being joined by his grown son, who is replacing him, having inherited his father's sense of duty. As they go their way with their dog, the father (sometimes literally) shows his son the ropes as we see what the old man's devotion to duty has meant to the various people on his route. Never straining for meaning, the film achieves it at a profound level, with much internal and external beauty.