The Road Home
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Movie Reviews of The Road Home
Movie Review: Wonderfully Sweet, Simple Love Story That Captures the Heart
Summary: 5 Stars
With all of the complex love stories that come out of Hollywood these days, you sometimes enjoy the refreshing feeling of a love story that is simple. I am not necessarily stating that one is better than the other, but you often find that many complex love stories just don't completely work. The Road Home is a beautiful, simple love story that is as simple as the time and location in which it takes place, and the pieces fit together like a simple jigsaw puzzle.
The son of Zhao Di has come home to the village where is mother is from. He learns that his father has passed away. While the son grew up in the village, he has spent much of his adult life in the city. He has come home to be with his mother and to help her makes plans for his father's burial. His mother insists that his father be walked from the city hospital back to the village. Understand that this is no easy task since the village is good distance from the city. Her son tries to talk her out of it, but she is adament. And it is in the re-telling of how Zhao Di met her husband that convinces both the son and audience to understand why she wants to walk her husband back to the village.
The film takes off from here as the talented Zhang Ziyi portrays the young Zhao Di. She is an eighteen year-old girl living with her blind mother. She is a beautiful young woman with many suitors wishing for her hand in marriage. She has turned them all down. We don't know why except that we can guess that she hasn't found what she's looking for in a husband. Enter Luo, the new school teacher who has come to the village after living in the city. Zhao Di is immediately captivated upon first seeing him.
The sweetness in this film is in the simplicity of the village and the time. Water must be fetched from nearby wells. Looms are used to make clothing and cloths. And even the "courtship" that is done more by Zhao Di than by Luo is sweetly simple. She uses her culinary talents to make the best dishes with the hope that Luo will eat from her dish. She waits by the road for one glimpse of Luo. She walks to the well that is near the school for the chance that she might see or hear Luo.
People often make the mistake that the more primitive a technological country, the more unhappy the people must be. And yet,Zhao Di is not an unhappy girl. She is an excellent cook, and she enjoys looking after her mother. You get the sense that she does this not out of a sense of duty, but because she wants to. Zhao Di never lives anywhere else but in the village. The village is where she is happy.
Zhang Ziyi is simply brilliant is capturing the sweetness and determination of Zhao Di. She portrays Zhao Di with a fierce persistence to win the heart of Luo at any cost. You will see several scenes in which she demonstrates this.
I must mention the cinematography. The locations and colors that are captured reveal an almost magical world with golden leaves on the birch trees and snow-swept hills of winter.
Director Yimou Zhang does a great job of incorporating the technology of the time period. In many ways, I was as captivated by the use of the loom, the sweatbox used for cooking dumplings, and the walk to the well as I was of the sweet love story. I like his use of black and white in the future, and then the use of color for the past. Most directors would do it the other way around. And yet the color used for the past seems to show that it is revealing a happier time when young Zhao Di was in the fullness of her life, and the black and white showing how life is swiftly coming to an inevitable close for her after the loss of her one true love.
The Road Home will capture your heart with its story and your eyes with its images. Many saints, masters, and philosophers over the course of the centuries have stated that love is actually very simple; it is we who make it complex. This beautiful film seems to truly capture that idea.
Movie Review: Know the Present Know the Past
Summary: 5 Stars
There are movies of love and romance that are subtle reminders that the smallest of details may carry totemic significance. In THE ROAD HOME Director Zhang Yimou tells of a story that is so delicate in its nuances that the slightest of facial expressions or the merest whisper of singing is sufficient to carry a film that for a Westerner may seem glacially slow paced but for those who can appreciate the subtleties of shy love, the wait is not for action but for more nuance. Zi Yi Zhang, who later went on to fame in CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, is Di, an eighteen year old girl living in the smallest of rural communities somewhere in the vastness of China during Mao's Great Leap Forward of 1959. Her story is actually the middle part of the film. The beginning and the end occur forty years later and relate the journey of Di's son, now an adult, who returns home to visit his mother only to learn that his father has died recently. The older Di tells him that she is bound by custom to walk with her husband's coffin over many miles for a burial. Her son naturally objects that due to her age, the cost, and the brutal winter, such a trip is daunting. During his visit, she tells him of her courtship by the newly arrived teacher, his future father, and it is his telling of the tale through his mother that forms the bulk of the movie.
THE ROAD HOME seems a superficially simplistic tale of young love set amidst a rural life that is light years from the cultural chaos then afflicting China. Though this is a love story, the lovers never kiss, never even touch physically. What they do is look at each other. Most of the camera is on her face. We see numerous closeups of Di waiting and watching for him to return after he is called away for possible political interrogation in the big city. He gives her a hair clip as a parting gift which she wears with all the proud equivalency of an engagement ring. Di spends much of the movie either running after him as he is taken away from her or simply standing around waiting for him to return as he has promised. The film is replete with many cinematic symbols of delayed love. The water well of the village contains the life giving liquid that will later unite the two. A bowl is broken as she drops it while running after him. A master pottery repairman unites the shards, foreshadowing a similar unification of the lovers. The rural school house is first built, then falls into disrepair, then is repaired yet again. Then there is the road of the title. This road exists in both a literal and metaphorical sense. It is eternal even if those who tread its cobblestones are not. As the young Di runs up the road seeking her man in the middle part of the film, she as the older Di walks slowly with great dignity as she accompanies her husband's casket on what will be the last journey for both. Director Zhang shows a deft hand in showing the various transitions from past to present to past again. While Zi Yi Zhang gets the lion's share of screen time, the actress who plays her as an elderly widow invests her role with a quiet dignity. THE ROAD HOME is a reminder that a life's journey need not be measured in the number of steps taken but rather in their quality.
Movie Review: As Of Now, The Best Film Of 2001!
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Road Home" is made by my favorite foreign director around today! I don't count Bergman because he just writes now. But Zhang Yimou, the director of this film, always manages to put such beauty into his films. Probably best known for films like "Not One Less", "Shanghai Traid", "Raise the Red Lantern", & "To Live". "The Road Home" follows in his tradition of making powerful, beautiful films.I've seen about 60 films this year, and I know that's not a lot when compared to how many critics see. But, I think it's a pretty large amount when compared to the amount that the average movie fan goes to see. From everything I've seen this year, nothing has been able to express the passion of this film! No film has been as tender, poignant, & embarcive as this. I hate to admit this, for it's not really manly, but, I was misty by the end of the film. I've not seen a film that could do that to me in a long time.
Many bash this film saying, there's no story. It doesn't move. There's no point to it. How wrong they are. Of course there's a story to the film. I was watching something all that time lol. It's a very innocent, simple story that captivates it's audience. A young man, Yusheng (Honglei Sun) goes back home after hearing about the death of his father. A local school teacher, who helped build the very same school where he worked. His mother is grief-stricken, understandablely. There's an old tradition that after one dies, one must be brought back to where they lived. Only they must be brought back by foot! Other's must carry the coffin so the person's soul will remember how to get back home. Yusheng mother, will not give in. She demands that the townspeople follow the old tradition. Afterwards, Yunsheng starts thinking about his mother and father, he sees a picture of them taken the day of their marriage. It makes him think about the story of how they met. And, this is where the film starts to take off. Granted, it sounds simple, but, please don't dismiss it. Just think of "The Bicycle Thief". It takes a simple story, and does something with it, many films, no matter how complex their story-line may be can do. "The Road Home" is the same way. It may sound simple, but, give it a chance, trust me, you'll be impressed.
I really, really love this movie. Everything about it seems to fall together in perfect pieces. The music by Bao San is charming. It hits all the romantic and dramatic spots it needed to. The script based on the book "Remembrance" written by Shi Bao, as is the script, is truly wonderful. It carries such heart with it. It makes us care about the characters so much. We can't help but get drawn into their lives. The film did more in 89 minutes then any Hollywood film I saw this year! I know, many people dislike having to read the sub-titles on these type of films, but, please, make an effort to see this one. I think this film will stay with me for a long,long time.
p.s.- This film has already won and been nominated for many awards including; a Sundance Film Festival Award, a Bodil Awards, and a Berlin International Film Festival Award.
Movie Review: Beautiful Love Story and Pro-educational, Should be An Oscar
Summary: 5 Stars
The true love story and beautiful scenary shots. No wonder it was directed by Zhang, Yimou, the best director in China, who was originally studied Cinamic Choreagraphy (poor spelling?) then later became actor and director. I seldom was moved to tears by any movies, being a man, but not for this one, I have watched many times, each time was fascinated and attracted by the colorful landscape and beautiful actress Zhang, Ziyi.Here is the Time Asia Magazine exclusive interview about Yimou and Ziyi's new movie, "Hero" with other superstars, Jet Li, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. You won't see it before the geginning of next year. But I bet it will be another smash hit in the world. (...)
It was a cover story and iterviews with all the major casts and directors. The following is the pasted interviews about Ziyi by Yimou:
Time: You told us that Zhang Ziyi feels a lot broader to you as an actress than she did when you were working on The Road Home with her. Does she now give you that same sense of being able to wrap a scene in one or two takes that you talked about with regard to Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung? Or does she still need a lot more cajoling to achieve the kind of performance you want?
Zhang: On this film, she's almost there. In the past, I had to spend a lot of time talking through each shot with her. Now she catches on much more quickly. Of course, she doesn't have the variety of experience of Tony or Maggie. She's still young. But she's got the ability.
Time: Do you think that's a function of her increased familiarity with your demands on her as an actress? Is it that she simply has a better sense of what you want from her in a performance?
Zhang Yimou: Partially, yes. But it's just as much to do with the development of her craft as an actress. I'll give you an example. When we were making The Road Home, there were several times in the film when she needed to cry. And as far as I was concerned these were crucially important parts of the movie. I'd call for quiet on the set. There had to be total silence, because crying in front of so many people is not easy. I knew we could only do one take. The lights, the film, everything had to be perfect, because I was afraid that on the second or third takes the tears wouldn't come, or the acting wouldn't seem sincere. But on this film, she's been amazing. We have technical problems all time. There's always one reason or another to re-shoot the scene. We're doing five or six takes for every shot. And she cries on command. It only takes her a few seconds to get in and out of character. It has surprised and impressed me. This is real change in Ziyi's acting. Now if I have to shoot her crying, I'm not afraid of shooting multiple takes, because there's always a possibility that the last take will be the best one. Maggie's got the same talent. And I've caught Ziyi studying her performance very intently. It's a smart move. There's a lot Maggie can teach her.
Movie Review: A bowl, a red jacket, a barrette, mushroom dumplings . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
Initially (I'd only recently discovered Zhang Ziyi) I was doubtful: the cover illustration gave me the impression that it's a children's story, for children. On the other hand, though, were others' reviews, so I couldn't quite put it out of mind. Finally, after passing it over a half-dozen times or so, I decided -- still doubting and hesitant -- to buy it on the strength of Zhang Ziyi's acting in other films. I'll not attempt to detail the "plot," or incidents in it -- others have done that with varying degrees of accuracy.
It is not a children's story. (But will do no harm to children.)
At the end of my first viewing I was speechless. Though a published writer, I could find no words to describe, or represent, or capture what it is, what it does. I've since lost count of how many times I've watched it -- spellbound. I've struggled to find the words with which to write adequate review; but as that has seemed impossible, only added comments to other reviews. This is the best I've been able to do:
Elementally human.
Humane.
Universal.
Exquisitely gentle.
Eventually I put it back into its case and onto the shelf. But the very next day I had to put it back into the DVD player. How can so moving a story be made of a few ordinary, inconsequential materialities? --
An old chipped and stained -- but favorite -- bowl, both imbued with and vessel for an innocent, open, generous heart.
A red jacket.
A barrette.
Mushroom dumplings.
One road to and from a tiny village, which seems most often to run in only one direction: from.
Made moving by means of some incomprehensible magic.
The film itself, to the eye -- every frame a painting. I don't know that I've ever seen another so perfectly realized, both perfectly balanced contrasts of crisp black-and-white, and splendid countless soft colors of autumn.
The expert use of lines -- hills, trees, mountains . . .
It is an extremely rare film which one forgets has a camera present. Even when I consciously reminded myself there was -- that understanding almost immediately evaporated.
Flawless acting, especially by the shapeless girl/young woman in pigtails and baggy trousers.
A gift from those who made it, beyond the reach of all deserved, humbled, reverent superlatives. Special as a barrette, as mushroom dumplings.
You need to own your own -- widescreen -- copy. And a multi-disk DVD player as vessel for it -- so you needn't remove it when you want to watch some other film.