The Road Home
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Bin Li, Hao Zheng, Honglei Sun, Yulian Zhao, Ziyi Zhang Director: Yimou Zhang Brand: ZIYI,ZHANG DVD: Region Code 99 Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Mandarin Chinese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1 Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1 Running Time: 89 minutes DVD Release Date: 2001-11-27 Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Studio: Sony Pictures Classics |
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Movie Reviews of The Road Home
Movie Review: Does this movie really deserve all these raves???
Summary: 3 Stars
I find it unsettling if not downright scary that almost all the reviews I have seen thus far in Amazon for this movie scream "excellent", for I find this as one of Zhang Yi Mou's less inspired and less riveting movies. As I watched the first ten to fifteen minutes of the movie, I wanted to give myself the benefit of the doubt I was having, for there was nothing, other than the scene of a man going home to a remote village (which could be somewhere in Xinjiang), that I found as an indication that this WAS GOING to be another one of Zhang Yi Mou's cinematic jewels.Perhaps it was the plot, or perhaps it was an overblown focus on his young and very attractive actress, who clearly was a replacement for the unfortunately aging but always-the-arresting-persona that was Gong Li. The camera did the younger actress plenty of justice, and I could sense that she and the director would have many more movies to come. Hopefully, Zhang Yi Mou can recreate the same kind of arresting and captivating movies that he had made with Gong Li.
But for this movie, it did not have many of the elements that wowed me when I saw "Raise the Red Lantern", "To Live", and "Shanghai Triad". I consider "To Live" as a masterpiece, and whenever I watch it, even in my overworn VHS tape, I can always sense the vision and inspiration it took to create such a dramatic saga of many generations through sweeping socioeconomic and political changes in China (I am hoping for the day when the DVD of "To Live" comes out!). I guess it would not be fair to use "To Live" as a golden standard against which "The Road Home", a movie with a simple plot and minimal characters, can be compared. I should check out "Not One Less", also by Zhang Yi Mou, since this movie is just as recent as "The Road Home", and the theme of teacher (albeit female) in a remote village is similar to "The Road Home".
I give it, however, three stars, because of the outstanding photography. The music was decent, although again, not as memorable, as the musical score in "To Live".
For melodramatic Chinese movies, Chen Kaige's "The King of Masks" also sits on that much higher plane in my opinion.