The Road Home

Rating:
Summary: Road to tenderness
Review: One of the most popular exports that comes out of China is movies these days.Zhang Yimou is among the most respected, not only in China but in the rest of the orient. Road home won an important award in prestigious Berlin film festival.(how couldnt they vote ?) Movie starts with a young Chinese man returning his village in order to attend his father's ( teacher of the village)
funeral. His mother asks him to bring his father on shoulders as in old traditions. Boy is confused at first but picture starts to become clearer as he learns the legendary love between his mother and father. His father a young and idealistic teacher comes to village to open a school. Mother, a sweet villager girl is atrracted to him from the first sight. Soon teacher becomes aware of her and a beautiful as well as an innocent love starts between them,refusing to crumble against all odds.
Yimou shot the present time sequences in black and white,portraying cold winter and loss of a loved one better. However majority of the movie is shot in color. He bnrings loads of emotions and reality with his color choices.
His portrayal of rural china is excellent. Summer and winter shots are beautifully executed and we witness a simple but joyful life out of the towns. Villagers' social life and values are all presented lightly in sequences like when villagers force teacher to leave heavy work for them or refuse to eat beside him because he is a town gentleman. Being a teacher and a doctor in rural areas in the east is still a very prestigious social status .A young Zhang Zi Yi performs brilliantly and the rest of the act is also superb.Her portrayal of the young and innocent villager girl is unforgettable. In this movie Zhang keeps everything pure and simple. Since it is a simple story and what else one could do to paint it with the camera? Vital point is to bring out the emotions which Zhang does it in an excellent way. Viewers emotions will dramatically change as film continues and you are advised to have some tissues ready with you for some seqences. Film has many remarkable moments, like Zi yi's food preparation for the teacher and final bit when people attend the funeral and carry the coffin etc.
This movie is a remarkable example of the spirit of the cinema and Yimou tells a story which is well written, well acted and superbly directed. A rain of emotions will wash you, and you will think that without blood,sex and worthless word salad as well as none sense rules such as dogma, a great movie can be done.In comparison to his remarkable past work,(in my personal opinion) so far Yimou really made his best movie with this one.
In the world of cinema, sun is shining from the east these days. So do not miss its rays of wisdom and warmth.

Rating:
Summary: Chinese Family Values Epic
Review: In the fine tradition of Chinese movies, lost on US film-makers, is "The Road Home." Tender, endearing, moving, filled with hope, sorrow, and togetherness the film is crafted to depict life's passage and future. Yet, for all of this, how can you argue with the added value of China's most outstanding young female star today in Zhang Ziyi? Painstaking attention to the finest details and most poignant Mandarin Chinese dialog. Love this film forever like, those of us, who have been so deeply touched by watching it!

Rating:
Summary: A lovely story...
Review: The movie starts with a son returning back from the city when his father dies to help his mom fulfill her wish to give her husband a traditional burial. Starting in black and white the films turns to color during his mother's flashback, as she explains how she first met her husband and WHY the traditional burial is so important. A story of love coming first, even before, funny enough, the tradition of arranged marriages. Full of culture and touching moments.

Rating:
Summary: One of the better Chinese movies!
Review: This is one of the better Chinese movies in that it actually has a plot! Most of the older Chinese-made movies are borderline in this aspect. Zhang Ziyi is a refreshing change from Gong Li, who can't act her way out of a paper bag! (My Chinese friends agree with me on this!) This movie provides an excellent portrait of a rural Chinese village, even down to the dishes they use. What I liked is how clearly the characters enunciated, so even if you have basic/minimum Mandarin, you can follow the dialogue much of the time without using subtitles. Language is the one flaw the movie has, as rural villagers would have spoken in dialect and not Mandarin, the national language. While this wasn't as great as "Crouching Dragon, HIdden Tiger," it is a good movie and a great way to while away a couple of hours.

Rating:
Summary: To honor a teacher
Review: Occasionally, an American film will come along that pays tribute to the teaching profession. MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS (1994) was a terrific one that comes immediately to mind. THE ROAD HOME is a simple and poignant love story, as well as one about the honor accorded a teacher after long years of service. It comes from China, which perhaps has traditionally assigned teachers more social respect than here in the U.S.

As the film opens, Luo Yusheng (Sun Honglei) is traveling back to his birthplace, a mountain village in northern China. (The scenery is perhaps reminiscent of the Rocky Mountain foothills on the eastern slope.) His father has died, and he's returning home to comfort his aged mother. On arrival, he learns that his father, who was the village schoolteacher for the previous forty years, expired in a nearby city. His mother, Zhao Di (Zhao Yuelin) insists that his body in its coffin be brought back in the traditional manner, i.e. hand carried by the local men, such that "he will remember the road home". She also has her son bring out of storage an ancient and decrepit loom, on which she weaves a covering for the coffin. As far as the plot is concerned, this activity serves as the takeoff point to the lengthy 1958 flashback, which tells the story of how the 18-year old Zhao Di (now played by Zhang Ziyi) fell in love with the handsome young teacher, Luo Changyu (Zheng Hao), who arrives in the village to help build the one-room school and begin classes. In that earlier time, Di, as the prettiest maiden in town, had been selected to weave the red banner to be attached as a good omen to the main roof crossbeam of the completed classroom.

The young Di is the reason to watch THE ROAD HOME. Zhang Ziyi is utterly captivating as the uncomplicated village girl, who sets out to win the bachelor teacher's heart by cooking her best recipes. There's absolutely no hint of sex, violence or profanity, much less any special FX. It's the type of film that most Tinseltown producers probably wouldn't even consider making. It's sweet and gentle, and reminds the viewer of the bond that grows between husband and wife during decades of marriage, as well as the lasting influence a good teacher can have on students. Cynics and the maladjusted should stay away or risk Rolling Eyeballs Syndrome.

I found myself liking this film a lot despite its sweetness and predictable plot. Perhaps I should re-listen to my audio self-help tapes on Becoming the Curmudgeon.

Rating:
Summary: I Will Wait For You
Review: Clean is the autumn wind,
Splendid is the autumn moon,
The blown leaves are heaped and scattered,
The ice-cold raven starts from its roost
Dreaming of you-when shall I see you again?
On this night sorrow fills my heart.

-Li Po (701-762)
Chinese Poet, "Verses"

In a mesmerizing story of love and loss based on Bao Shi's novel: "Rememberance," you will find two hearts. A teacher wanting to give his knowledge to the next generation and a farm girl wanting to share her very soul with the man she loves. This is about how in the winter of a life, the summer is remembered and celebrated.

From the very start of this movie, it will draw you into the intimacy of the most private thoughts of the characters. There are thoughts about life, death, love, loss and loneliness. The contrast of the black-and-white present with the ecstatic color flashback scenes of the past are so sharp, it is almost emotionally overwhelming. Snow drifts across the frozen earth and there are scenes of the bitter cold.

The story is set around the life of a schoolhouse built when two people fall in love. As they age, the schoolhouse also ages and when businessman Luo Yusheng's (Sun Honglei) father dies, the schoolhouse is ready to be rebuilt. He leaves the city and returns to the snowy path leading to the mountain village of Sanhetun in Northern China.

Luo Changyu (Zheng Hao) helped to build the schoolhouse and taught there for almost his entire life. After getting caught in a snow storm, his heart condition is revealed and he is unable to continue raising money for this project. He dies never seeing his dream of the new schoolhouse come true.

Luo Yusheng finds his mother Zhao Di (Zhao Yuelin plays the older Di) weeping at the school. She finally tells her son of her plans to carry her husband back in a coffin on foot. She doesn't want to use a car and so he must employ people from the surrounding villages. As her son takes care of the details, she weaves a funeral cloth for the casket. We are reminded later of why this means so much to her as we think of her innocent face peering through the red threads used to create the cloth hung in the schoolhouse.

The story of the romance between 18-year-old Zhao Di (Zhang Ziyi from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon plays the young Di) and Luo Changyu is the focus of the movie. They are perhaps in love from the moment their eyes meet. In a world of arranged marriages, this freedom to love is unique. Di has her heart set on Luo from the minute she sees him. She pursues him like an shy animal hunting in the forest. She views him from afar and slowly works her way into his heart. Her pink coat floating between golden leaves as she runs, her anxious heart captured by her gaze.

Each day as the school is built, she brings a dish for him and hopes that he will taste something she has cooked for him. Then as he teaches, she can't resist the sound of his voice. She has to be near him.

When he has to leave to be questioned for political reasons, she has just made mushroom dumplings and so wants him to taste them. While the story is simple, the emotions are complex. You know what the characters are thinking even before they have spoken. You feel their hearts, imagine it is your breath seeping into the cold air like steam or your hands making the mushroom dumplings.

Your heart runs with her to find Luo. And then you cry when the bowl breaks because you feel the intense longing Di feels. You live this story with her, you see love through her eyes, you know she would walk barefoot in the snow if she could just find Luo.

As she waits for Luo to return, we know she is completely in love. She tells him she will wait for him and he promises to return on the 27th. When he fails to return, Di feels she has lost everything unless she goes to find the man she loves.

You will want to cry because this movie is so incredibly beautiful. It is beautiful in its simplicity. Director Zhang Yimou has made one of the most beautiful movies you will ever see. The music by Bao San fills any space you would possible have to draw a breath and escape from being absolutely captured by every scene.

I will gladly read subtitles for a movie this exquisite. This is perhaps the only perfect movie ever made. If you only saw one movie in your life, this should be it. I feel I can hardly describe this movie to you. There are hardly words to tell you how this movie absolutely enchanted me. 100 stars would not be enough.

Like fresh water drawn from the depths of a well, this movie is all consuming in how it refreshes your spirit. It is a drink from the clearest mountain stream. It is pure in its deepest emotions of hope and longing and rich beyond material possessions in the beauty of love.

This movie sets your senses on fire. You hear the crispest of sounds, the "splosh" of water as it is poured back into the well, fresh snow crunching underfoot and the sizzle of food in a wok set over a fire. Your vision is in complete bliss as an aesthetic awareness of nature swirls around you in pictures and sounds in a rural Chinese setting.

Completely Charming in every way.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful, Unforgettable Film
Review: ...Without question, at the heart of the film is a monumental yet simple story of true love in the purest sense, and of the devotion which renders that love eternal. But the film transcends even that, and within the greater context indicates the impact of the past upon the present, which is summed up in a single line from the film: "Know the past, know the present." And know, too, that the love portrayed in this story is the kind of love that is abiding, and that which sustains all that makes life worth living. It's a veritable journey of the soul; one that will touch you deeply and linger in your memory long after the screen has gone dark.

Upon receiving the news that his father has died, Luo Yusheng (Honglei Sun) leaves the city to return to his home, a small village in the mountains, to bury his father and comfort his bereaved mother, Zhao Di (Yulian Zhao). When he arrives, however, he discovers that his mother will not be consoled until her wish concerning the burial of her husband, Luo Changyu (Hao Zheng) is fulfilled. In keeping with a long standing tradition and superstition, Di insists that his coffin be carried by hand by the men of the village along the road connecting the village and the city, insuring by so doing that in death Changyu will always be able to remember his way home.

Yusheng quickly finds that realizing his mother's request will be no easy task; their village is small and all of the able-bodied men have left for the city, leaving only children and those too old for such an arduous undertaking. And it is winter, a harsh time of year in the mountains. But Di is adamant, and so Yusheng sets about the business of fulfilling her request. And as he does so, he reflects upon the story of his parents; a story well known throughout the village, for theirs was a love that was unbridled and boundless, the likes of which no one in the village had ever know before. Or since.

This film, so wonderfully crafted and delivered by director Zhang, is altogether ethereal and transporting; he tells the story in simplistic terms, and yet it is in that very simplicity that he finds the genuine honesty and truth that provides such an emotional impact and makes this love story one that rivals any the screen has ever known. Aided by the masterful cinematography of Yong Hou, Zhang achieves that same sense of transcendence that defines much of Akira Kurosawa's films, such as "Ran" and "Akira Kurosawa's Dreams," or Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." There is not a superfluous moment in the entire film, and Zhang proves that capturing pure emotion with the camera can express more than pages of dialogue recited by an actor. And with his lens, Zhang opens up the very heart of the film and lays it bare for all to see and feel, finding more in the eyes of his characters and in their expressions than words could ever convey. It's a study of human nature that is disarming in it's candor, and quite simply a brilliant piece of filmmaking by a director with an irrefutably incisive understanding of the human condition.

Without question, though, the single aspect that makes this such an unforgettable film is the performance (in her motion picture debut) by Ziyi Zhang as the young Zhao Di. A young woman of exquisite beauty, she has a sublime screen presence that is a portrait of the angelic, and her innate ability to silently express the myriad emotions called for by her character is used to great effect by director Zhang. Ziyi's portrayal is one of youthful innocence mixed with stubborn determination, which gives her character the necessary depth to be entirely convincing, and she will win you over in a heartbeat. She is so affecting that near the end, when Di, now an old woman, is hurrying across a rickety foot bridge, the same bridge we've seen the young Di traverse many times on her way to and from the schoolhouse (which is central to the story), despite the weathered age so evident on her face, because of the lasting impression made by Ziyi, you realize that she still bears the heart of the young woman you've come to care so much about by this time, and you understand that age is superficial; that this is a shell housing the spirit and the true beauty that resides within. It's a beautiful moment to behold, and ours forever, due to the extraordinary performance and presence of the delicate Ziyi Zhang, as well as the tremendous sensitivity and care with which she is presented by director Zhang.

The supporting cast includes Bin Li (Grandmother), Guifa Chang (Old Mayor), Wencheng Sung (Mayor) and Zhongxi Zhang (Crockery Repairman). A love story told sincerely from the heart is a treasure that endures forever, like a painting by Monet or Renoir; and like those artists, director Zhang is nothing less than an impressionist behind the camera, capturing the distinctive rhythms of life and love for all time in "The Road Home," a gentle, poetic film that will make it's way into the hearts of all who experience it. And therein remain, forevermore.

Rating:
Summary: Memories of Love
Review: This is one of the most beautiful films you will ever see. It's gorgeous cinematography is matched perfectly with a simple yet heartwarming love story like no other. Director Yimou Zhang has intelligently crafted a film that perfectly captures the sweet joy and utter heartbreak of true love. The only nudity here is that of the heart, as Zhang shows us it's naked beauty and it's capacity to endure.

It is a film that starts in the present day and moves to the past, as Luo Yusheng (Honglei Sun) returns home after his father dies and the story of his parent's romance is related. The film itself is based on Bao Shi's book "Remembrance". Director Zhang uses black and white photography in the present day and beautiful color for the past to contrast the present sorrow to the joy of the past.

Yusheng finds his mother heartbroken at his father's death but determined his coffin be carried by hand over the rivers and through the mountains to the village, in an ancient ritual of superstition carried out in the past so the dead will never forget their way home. It is a road that holds great meaning for his mother and father. Yusheng is reluctant at first until he looks at a photo of his parents and remembers their story of love.

Talented china doll Ziyi Zhang gives a sweet and beautiful performance as Zhao Di. She takes care of her blind mother who it is said lost her sight from all the tears shed at her father's death. Di is sweet and sought after but has refused all the attempts at arranged marriages which are the norm for girls in her village. But when she sees for the first time the new young teacher and hears his voice, she immediately falls in love.

The women can not take part in the building of the schoolhouse as it is against tradition but they prepare meals every day for the workers and Di spends much time laboring over her onion cakes and other dishes in the hopes Luo Changyu (Hao Zheng) will pick her special bowl that day. Their courtship is made up of glances and smiles. Once the school is built Di takes water from the well near the school in spite of the greater distance and hardship just to hear his voice and sometimes see him from a distance. It is just as sweet as it sounds.

Di sits and waits by the road every day to see Luo and the children go by singing. She finally devises a ruse to actually speak to him and it is then that we know he loves her to, even though nothing is said. Ziyi Zhang gives a terrific performance of subtle nuance, conveying all the uncertainty of first love. When it is she and her mother's turn to have him for dinner he promises to return to sample her mushroom dumplings but he must return to the city because of political 'difficulties' and gives her a hair clasp to go with her red jacket.

He must leave sooner than expected and the scene of her running after the cart with her special bowl filled with mushroom dumplings in a futile attempt to catch up will surely choke you up if you have a heart. Di waits anxiously as the date he hopes to return approaches during a snowy winter. Director Zhang uses the elements to parallel Di's emotions, bleak and cold when Luo is gone and sunny and colorful when he is there. When she nearly dies waiting on his return he comes to see her and it costs them two more years apart. The mayor and the whole village know of Di's love by then and a love of choice is something new to all of them. Di and Luo will be the first marriage in their village based solely on love.

The memories of their story prompts Di's modern son to fulfill the request at any cost, as many of his father's students join the long trek so he can be buried by the well where his mother will be buried also upon her passing. It will prompt Luo Yusheng to fulfill another request of his mother's and bring back all the loving memories of the past.

This is a wonderful film filled with love and joy. The cinematography is breathtaking, the story simple, and the performances exquisite. Winner of the "Audience Award" at the Sundance Film Festival, it is magnificent in it's simple beauty. Ziyi Zhang (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) has given another amazing performace and you will never forget her after seeing this film, which you must do. "The Road Home" is one you simply can't miss.......

Rating:
Summary: Incredibly moving
Review: This is an incredible moving film. Given the limited dialogs in this film, the director managed to convey the leading character's emotions.

I highly recommend this DVD. I watched it for a second time and cried just as much...

Rating:
Summary: The Road Home
Review: The Road Home is a beautiful, colorful love story within the framework of a later perspective. Despite the subtitles, it takes just moments to fall in love with the story, the people, and the culture. Even my nine year old girl was attentive and captivated. What a clean, refreshing, impressive piece of work! This is a treasured story in my personal collection.