Rating: 
Summary: One of my Favorites, But Not One I'd Necessarily Want to Own
Review: THE ROAD HOME" is one of the most wonderful and beautiful films I ever seen. I'm not really into chinese movies, mainly because they are slow, but I took a chance with this one and saw it. I have to say that I absoultely loved it. But it is very sad at the end, so it wouldn't be one I'd want to own. But definately one to check out. It's kind like owning "TITANIC" and "PEARL HARBOR". Do you really want to watch a disaster over and over? I'm not saying there's a big disaster in this movie, but hopefully you'll get what I mean.
Anyways...The main point about the movie is that it is so simple that it takes your breath away. The love story is small and epic at the same time. You can really tell the two are in love. It's so real. Zhang Ziyi, from Crounching Tiger, is wonderful as a poor peasant girl in love with the new village school teacher. The actual story of how their love unfolded is so tender and sweet that it will leave you trying to hold back tears of pure joy. The music, composed by San Bao works so well with the movie, it's outstanding. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: One of the most wonderful and beautiful films I ever seen. The main point about the movie is that it is so simple that it takes your breath away. The love story is small and epic at the same time. Zhang Ziyi, from Crounching Tiger, is mesmerizing as a poor peasant girl in love with the new village teacher; their love story is so tender and sweet that it will leave you trying to hold back tears of pure joy. Yimou is a real master of film, one of the few really GREATS. The film is PERFECTION. The music outstanding. Try to catch the little homage to another romance, so different from this one, Titanic. In a word, MASTERPIECE with capital letters.
Rating:
Summary: Simple yet moving tale of timeless love
Review: I saw this movie under the translated name of "My father and mother", as the original Mandarin name "Wo de fu qin mu qin" would suggest. Which is an apt title, because theme wise, it veers around a young man harking back to the romance between a simple village girl (his mother) and the school teacher (his father). Lots of reminiscing, nostalgia, love, sacrifice. The End. But it is this very simplicity that is stirring. Cinematographically on par with almost anything from Kurosawa, even "Yume", this is an unembellished but heart-warming story of remembering a timeless love. No quixotic melodrama of Hollywood (a la Titanic) here, no elaborate somatic expressions of hugging/kissing/and all else. Indeed, Zhang Ziyi only needs a twitch of an eye or a shy gesture of the hands to convey an entire page of the script. Doesn't matter whether the story is simple or complex, beautiful or ordinary, Chinese or otherwise -- I'd wager you will definitely come away feeling that you saw a charming, moving vignette of human essence. Fabulous!
Rating:
Summary: The Road Home
Review: It is rare that a movie can transcend language and cultural barriers to convey a story that appeals to the emotions of the viewer. The Road Home is one such movie. Without resorting to a summary of the movie, which is surely repeated elsewhere, the Road Home is a love story. Despite being unable to appreciate the magnitude of the marriage for love concept as opposed to marriage by arrangement, as I am an American, I was still able to recognize the love depicted in this movie. Despite not being able to understand Mandarin/Cantonese, the emotions are clearly conveyed through the actors. One feels for them and roots for them even if there is no blatant antagonist to rouse your emotions. Clearly the movie has touched other viewers as it won the Audience Award at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival and Silver Berlin Bear at the 2000 Berlin International Film Festival. The Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou) film bloodlines do not raise unattainable standards or expectations, but may actually raise the standards for his other movies. If Zhang Ziyi is typecast later as a method actor good only for martial arts and sex kitten roles, one need only view this movie to see that they are wrong. You should watch this movie.
Rating:
Summary: "Road Home" - What a great movie!
Review: I am not a big fan of Zhang ZiYi, however, I did like "Road Home" a lot! Comparing her usual roles as a tough sword fighter such as in "Hidden Draggon Crouching Tiger" or "House of Flying Daggers", I think this kind of movie suits a lot better for Zhang ZiYi. Speaking from Asian point of view, she is not the prettiest girl you can find in Asia but she definitely has the quality of sweetness and confidence in her look, which fits perfectly with the role in this movie.
The story is indeed a celebration of great and undying love between lovers. What gives a greater impact on this movie is the way the story is set in a backward Chinese village where grand love is least expected to be found. The kind of simple yet passionate love between the two lovers in the movie has almost become extinct in reality.
This kind of movie is very refreshing to the audience because it does not follow the typicality of most American movies where stories start off happily and end happinly.
I strongly recommend this movie!
Rating:
Summary: completely worth your time.
Review: Zhang Ziyi, if your reading this, I love you, and I want to marry you. You are absolutely gorgeous, completely cute, and your movies blow me away each and every time. The Road Home made me smile, made me cry, made me laugh, and then did it all over again. It's a love story. A story that will make you laugh, cry, and smile as well. I recommend this to anyone. I gave it a 5 for cinematography, for emotion, and for my love of Zhang Ziyi. Rent it, buy it, enjoy it. You will love it.
Rating:
Summary: awesome, touching!
Review: What a beautiful movie director Zhang Yimou had made! Very seldom a Chinese movie has touched me, moved me. But this movie had me in tears. The plot is so simple and I don't really care while I was watching it. The amazing cinematography, beautiful music, gorgeous Zhang Ziyi and her incredible performance grasped my attention. The story took place in a northern Chinese village during the time of the Culture Revolution. In this remote and poor village, most people and kids were illiterate. The villagers desperately needed a teacher to teach their kids. Therefore, when a teacher from a city finally came, he became the spotlight of the village. Everybody respected him or even worshipped him. The girl, Zhang Ziyi fell in love with him as soon as she first saw him. But since Chinese, especially a village girl were not used to expressing her feeling towards a man directly, she expressed them silently by making good dishes for him. The teacher knew it and loved her too. There was little conversation between the two lovers. There wasn't any physical contact between them either. But the viewer still feels the strong love between them. After the movie was over, the music, the beautiful winter scenery, and portrait of Zhang Ziyi stayed in my mind for a few days. It's the sweetest, yet saddest, movie I have seen in a long while.
Zhang Ziyi is a young and talented actress. This is her first movie. I think she did a wonderful job. Most Chinese actors/actresses graduate from a formal film school. They are trained to be actors/actresses in a school. Therefore, most of them do ACT in a movie, look very phony with their false acting. But Ziyi is so natural in this movie. She was not acting.
Rating:
Summary: Great film, very well done
Review: I own this one and highly recommend it to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: spiritual
Review: Zhang Ziyi's performance in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" had me wondering, out of all the stellar cast involved, who this was who had me the most impressed. I researched her filmography and came across "THE ROAD HOME". Mind you, I'm mostly a fight-it-out, special-effects, action movie fan who had my reservations about getting it once I finally found someplace to buy it. I rented first and I had no regrets afterwards.
Great films done properly can tell a simple story and hold the attention of the audience if one chooses to do so. This is a great example. Scenic vistas, compelling acting and a moving story has made this a favorite of my movie collection. Without saying too much (as the previous reviews have already done so), I will recommend at least everyone rent this. It doesn't have a huge budget, no CGI, no gun-toting and no foul language. What does that leave? A movie like they used to make 'em.
Rating:
Summary: The Power of Subtlety
Review: This is an incomparable film. Many story tellers try to move their audience to reexamine what they thought they knew -- to leave them haunted and deeply touched. Many attempts come off as rather silly and maudlin. Not this film. This film may touch you in a way you didn't think possible. I urge everyone to not try to discover too much about the specifics of this story -- I recommend you simply watch and let the story unfold. Don't be overly curious about the plot -- anyway, this film is not "about" the plot, it's about being human. The plot of this film is not important in the same way a Rorshach ink blot is not important. But, like the ink blot, this film will reveal something, possibly much, of what is inside the beholder. This film is about something vital to the human experience, and that something is longing. It's about a longing to reconnect with a purity of feeling and experience. A longing for simplicity in life, and the kind of love between a man and a woman that fulfills in such a way that is all but forgotten in the modern world, but if the instinct is alive inside you, this film will touch what is dormant, and will awaken it. Watching this film, you may have laid bare an essential quality of the human experience that before was likely untouched, and undiscovered. To have this done is a deeply emotional experience; it is the meaning of the word "epiphany." All this is accomplished with simplicity, subtlety, and absolutely, magnificently beautiful filming. The crisp autumn air of northern China, the turning leaves, and the almost exclusive use of the low, late afternoon sun, coupled with backlighting and side-lighting creates a visual masterpiece, and contributes greatly to the emotional masterpiece. Watch this movie, and find out about yourself, if you dare. Recommend it to your friends, especially your lover, and find out about them, if you dare.
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