Rating: 
Summary: You never ran like this
Review: What Zhang Yimou can do with a hundred grand and a beautiful woman and a camera and landscape is uncanny. Hollywood filmmakers MUST cringe in envy when they watch movies such as The Road Home, because in their high-budget bliss they nor their actors cannot do what Zhang and his cast often do: offer real blood and real tears nakedly. The majority of Chinese students in China I have spoken to who have seen The Road Home expressed nothing short of disgust for the movie, which I do not find surprising, given their general affinity for all things Arnold. It took hundreds of millions of dollars and Leonardo DiCaprio to convince young people in the Mainland that the complexities of love can be overcome by will alone. So when a low-budget (by American standards) movie is released about a young woman, a schoolhouse in Northern China, a pair of school teachers, and a funeral march - all of which remind them only of things that have become taboo, things they'd like to forget ever occurred - they dismiss it passionately.
Meanwhile, grown men like myself are reduced to tears at the reminder that love can be so torturous, and no less complex in the countryside than in New York City. I am left with two distinct images from that movie: the pottery fixer rambling from village to village in the cold, fixing Di's bowl with spit, staples, and ties; and Di frantically pursuing horse and carriage departing the town. There was never such longing in the world; you never ran like this.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Yesturday I went and saw this movie at the international theater at my school. When I realized it was about to be over I started seriously getting sad, I figured I wouldn't ever have the chance to see it again. It is just one of thoses movies that is so innocent and sweet, it grabs your heart. It had the whole audience laughing several times, but it was also so unbelievable how tough the girl is. I love it and would recomend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: One of Ziyi Zhang's Best!
Review: This was Ziyi Zhang's first feature film and it was one of her best. Sure, she was great in "Crotching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Rush Hour 2", but this one was of her best! I saw it at a friends house today and the DVD version was great because it offers this film with English and other subtitles in certian languages. After Luo Yusheng loses his father, he travels back to his hometown to attend the funeral. He looks back to the time when his mother was young and she first met her husband. Ziyi Zhang played the role of the young mother and she played it well. With her wonderful smile and beautiful pigtails and pink jacket, it was a film to remember for a lifetime! The ending was great and I had tears in my eyes! This is a must see for all Ziyi Zhang fans! This was her first and will always be her best!
Rating:
Summary: The road home
Review: As I am a native Chinese, it is a little hard to comment on this movie without partiality. But I believe that regardless of whether it is a truly great movie, its purity and simplicity are so precious in the days when over-hyped hollywood movies flood all over the world. Thank you, Zhang Yimou, for making such a beautiful movie at such a time.
Rating:
Summary: Ziyi's first and best!
Review: Thank goodness for Hong Kong. I got my copy of this video really early, and summing up my feelings about this movie in one word: "WOW!" This is a great movie that conveys so many emotions with very little words. Set in provincial China, an older Zhao Di mourns for Changyu, her dead husband. Her grown son recollects the past of his parents' courtship back in 1958, a story all too familiar in the small village. In those days, love was something unheard of between couples: arranged marriages were the rule. Through this flashback, the younger Zhao Di (Ziyi) is seen in company with the rest of the villagers awaiting a new teacher from the city. From this moment, Di evolves from a childish girl to a woman, silently (but not too subtly) longing for the newcomer. Simplistic natures of events like weaving a piece of red cloth, fetching water from the old well, or cooking mushroom dumpligs become an intense vision of escalating passion. Even I can't believe I cried over those mushroom dumplings. And when Di was torn apart from Changyu about some political trouble with the Communist Party, everything intensifies further. It is a very emotionally jarring experience to sit though this show; at one point everything seems so silly (and actually kinda cute), at another it is filled with anxiety and grief. This is a movie about relationships, first and foremost. But unlike many movies that are so often classified as "too sappy," or "too mushy," "The Road Home" is a movie about strength, hope and a physical manifestation of timeless love, not about helpless lovers who spout unending clichés. Like I said before, this movie has very little words, but works on many different levels. "The Road home" has an alternate Chinese title which roughly means "My Parents". And that's what it is - a story about Yusheng's (the son) parents who travel many, many times at a dusty winding road. And, at the death of his father, they will walk together down the road for one last time. Casting Zhang Ziyi in "The Road Home," her 1999 screen debut, was the smartest thing director Zhang Yimou had ever done. Only she could intertwine such an intricate amalgamation of Zhao Di's complex character, with superb timing and transitions of expressions of sadness, coyness, shyness, boldness, and basically being innately human, not to mention a woman. And it's no surprise that she was soon cast in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragion" and "Rush Hour 2". I believe that a huge weight of the success of this film was brought upon by Ziyi's superb acting capability of bringing the audience into the story itself. A must for Zhang Ziyi fans.
Rating: 
Summary: overrated
Review: This is overrated. They said the movie was breathtaking in simplicity. Yeah it was simple...There was nothing going on in the movie....Ziyi runs around the movie with ponytails...thats it!!!! what the hell kind of movie is this???? the only reason its here is the success of crouching tiger, hidden dragon...and after all that happens with nothing going on, the ending is a letdown as well.....lousy!!!!
Rating:
Summary: The Road Home, Riveting Masterpiece
Review: The Road Home had me riveted. A Chinese movie that's the story of my life! I couldn't believe it. I'm a 70 year old widow who has been a weaver for many years. We held a memorial service for my college professor husband when he died; and to my amazement, just as the funeral in the film drew a multitude of mourners, past students of the dead teacher, every seat in the chapel was filled by friends who came from far and wide. A visually compelling experience. As a craftsman weaver, I can say that the film is absolutely authentic too. And including the repair made to the pottery dish.
Rating: 
Summary: Implicit yet powerful passion
Review: Ever wonder how a movie can present passion in ways that does not involve nudity and not even a single kiss? Passion is vividly shown when Ziyi spends the whole day preparing her best dish, not knowing if her guy would pick hers for lunch. Passion is powerfully exhibited when, at the age of 80, Ziyi insists on walking the last mile with the deceased lover in snow.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece in its simplicity
Review: This film is beautiful. It will move you to tears. If you liked Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, you will find her more endearing and charming. I'm sure you will like her even more. She is a wonderful actress - you cry when she cries, you smile when she smiles. Images of this movie will stay with you long after you have left the theaters. One of the greatest love stories, in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: At home in China
Review: Zhang Yimou is a master of colours. See those golden leaves of fall glittering and glowing in the sun, see the beautiful girl in her pretty red jacket bustling among the birch trees, see the eagerness and the shyness all at once in her yearning eyes, trying to steal as many glances as possible on the only one of her dreams ... Who doesn't feel shivers of admiration with this gorgeous picture, when she is welcoming her secretly beloved friend for lunch, standing in the nicely with pumpkins decorated doorway of the little hut, awaiting him, being all smiles ... Maybe there is still somebody who doesn't know what's true love and faithfulness? This movie will tell and pluck their heartstrings. It's just overwhelming with how simple means Zhang Yimou manages to create an atmosphere of joy and sympathy with the common people in a small Chinese village. They live in poor circumstances, but not in poverty, and they are so rich in their minds and traditions! This film is much more than only a wonderful love story. Its original chinese title translates to "My Parents". It's the declaration of love of a movie director to his country and its people.
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