The Road Home [1999]

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
The latest film by Chinese director Zhang Yimou, The Road Home (1999) is a story of past and present. In black and white we see a young businessman return to a rural village where his father has died. His mother wants a traditional funeral, which involves carrying the coffin several miles in the depths of winter. Then, in flashback and brilliant colour, we are told the story of his parents' courtship. His father had come as the local schoolteacher and had fallen in love with his mother, a local girl. Political complications ensue and they are separated for two years, but at last reunited. This apparently simply tale is told with great insight and dazzlingly beautiful camerawork, in a style which echoes the Italian neo-realist films of the 1940s. Perhaps it doesn't have the complexity of the director's earlier film, Raise the Red Lantern (1991), which starred the luminous Gong Li, but The Road Home has her match in Zhang Ziyi, who also starred in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

On the DVD: The quality of the sound and picture (in 2.35:1 ratio) are excellent. There are no additional features except for subtitles in English and 15 other languages. --Ed Buscombe

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-08-20 rating:
exquisite
A beautifully filmed story of exquisite tenderness.

Starting off in black and white, a student comes home to his grieving, aged mother and to bury his father who has died outside the village in which he was the teacher. The mother wants to have the body carried home although the son and the mayor of the village prefer to have the body brought in a vehicle. The story then moves into the past and transitions into colour showing how the mother, as a young and extraordinarily pretty but shy 18 year old girl, meets the teacher on his first arrival in the village.

I guess you would call it love at first sight, as she contrives to be close to him, walking past the school each day, standing by the road as he walks home, taking water from a well overlooking the school. Their relationship blossoms in so far as it can, given the conventions of the time when, without warning, the teacher is taken from the village, but promises to return. The young girl spends days by the side of the road waiting for him until his eventual return. In watching this poignant story, the viewer gradually understands why she wants to pay this last tribute to her dead husband.

The use of drab black and white for the present day, transitioning into breathtakingly vivid colour for the past reinforces the difference in mood between the two ages - the love story of the past contrasting with the sorrow of the present.

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review by: Film Addict date: 2008-03-13 rating:
Simply beautiful!
A cynic would probably say that this film represents an idealised view of love,but so what.
One soon becomes wholly immersed in the story,and completely captivated by Zhang Ziyi's portrayal of a young woman in love.
One can see in this early film Zhang Ziyi's ability to convey emotion by a subtle facial expression that was so apparent in "House of Flying Daggers"
If you do not find this film touching,I suggest you check you still have a pulse!

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review by: date: 2007-10-31 rating:
A Beautiful Film
I have read all the glowing reviews on Amazon and I have to wholeheartedly agree with them.

This is a wonderful film, with a simple but touching plot and as we have come to expect from a Zhang Yimou film it looks beautiful and has a score to match.

Its just achingly beautiful, capturing the essence of love and devotion a woman can have for a man, from the first day they meet to the last, as a romantic at heart I dont think I have ever seen it done better than this.

And as for Zhang Ziyi she is, and was always going to become a star, she lights up the screen.

I can only say you have to see it.

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review by: Allan woo date: 2007-08-04 rating:
The most beautiful movie which you have ever seen...Unforgettable
The most beautiful movie which you have ever seen...Unforgettable !!! Make you question yourself who you really love.


review by: Little Raven date: 2007-07-14 rating:
World, Meet Zhang Ziyi
Try to endure the monochrome prologue and epilogue portions of this movie. It'll be worth it because the core of this movie is a brightly colored flashback to a Chinese village in the 1950's. The story is essentially one long flirtation as a young woman over the course of four seasons tries to win the attention of the new schoolteacher.

This was Planet Earth's introduction to the delightful Zhang Ziyi (or, for Westerners expecting the family name last: Ziyi Zhang). It is hard to believe that this exuberant girl is played by the same actress who later played the dour whirlwind in 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'.

Just as it was inevitable that the schoolteacher fall in love with the young woman, it was inevitable that legions of movie-going Earthlings would fall in love with Zhang Ziyi.

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Similar categories

Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Drama
Video . DVD & VHS . Substores . Regular Stores . DVD Bargains . By Price . From £4.97 . DVDs from £4.97
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . DVD
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . BBFC Rating (intended_use_browse-bin) . U
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Standard Edition
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Region(feature_browse-bin) . Region 2
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Release Date (feature_three_browse-bin) . 1990 - 1999
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Language (theme_browse-bin) . Chinese

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