Ziyi Zhang Movie:

				Salesrank: 229171
		Our Price: $105.00
		MPAA Rating: G (General Audience) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
At the start of the most recent film from Chinese director Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern, Ju Dou, Shanghai Triad), a young man returns to his native village after the death of his father, the village's schoolteacher, who died while trying to raise money for a new schoolhouse. His body is in a neighboring town; the young man's mother insists that it be brought back on foot, lest his spirit not find his way home. From this starting point, the young man recounts the tale of his parents' courtship, which involved a red banner, mushroom dumplings, a colorful barrette, and a broken bowl. The Road Home is beautifully filmed, particularly the luminous face of Zhang Ziyi (from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), whose performance is a heartrending portrait of hope and yearning. A simple but deeply emotional film. --Bret Fetzer

Wo de fu qin mu qin [Region 2] Reviews:
A sweet movie.
2009-12-18 - I thought this was a great movie about love. The way the main characters expressed themselves and thier budding love. And the love of the son for his mother and father. I was touched by this story.

Most excellent of movies!
2009-10-17 - I couldn't love a movie more. Others have shared my opinion when I turned them onto it.
That's if you like heartfelt love stories.

A touching and compelling love story
2009-08-30 - This is not as opulently beautiful as some of Zhang Yimou's films but the story is compelling and wonderfully told with deep affection for the characters. It's a love story beginning in the present with the death of a beloved village school teacher whose widow demands that he be honored by having his body carried--not driven--from where he died to his home in the small mountain village where he taught for over 40 years. The expense seems extravagant and where will the pallbearers come from? Most of the young people have left the village for the cities.

Returning for the funeral is the dead teacher's son. He realizes how important this ancient tradition of actually, physically carrying the body home, and so he goes about making that happen for his illiterate mother who is now all alone.

The real focus of the movie however is the extraordinarily beautiful face of the then 19-year-old Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000; Memoirs of a Geisha 2005) who plays Zhao Di, the mother as a young woman. We are flashed back to the teacher's arrival in the village and to the young Zhao Di doing everything in the exuberant way of first love that she can to catch his eye. Again and again Zhang has his camera focused tightly on Zhang Ziyi's face as she experiences love at virtual first sight and goes through all the emotions of love's labors. Pointedly Zhang Yimou shows only her face. Her body is covered in the padded winter clothes of the Chinese north.

In this focus on the skill, charisma and beauty of Zhang Ziyi one sees perhaps the influence of some Western directors like Ingmar Bergman, Krzysztof Kieslowski and Roget Vidam who made movies in homage to the beauty of their young stars, Bergman with Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann, Kieslowski with Juliette Binoche and Irene Jacob, and Vadim with Bridget Bardot and Jane Fonda.

As always in the films of Zhang Yimou one sees in the background or off to a side a gentle but penetrating subtext on the effect that communism has had on Chinese society. Here he gives not criticism but guidance as he carefully insists that the traditional ways have value and should not be completely shoved aside.

An Auteur's Gift!
2009-07-12 - I happened to catch a preview of this video and was intrigued enough to purchase a copy. It is, in my opinion, a window into the heart of a Chinese community and offers a look at the hopes that are common to all people. The opening had me worried that it was some maudlin piece but having seen the preview I knew there had to be more to it. There is! Much more! And the cinematography is the dessert!

Zhang Yimou
2009-07-05 - go to your nearest dvd store and buy all of Zhang Yimous films then get a case of your favourite Amber Nectar a huge Chinese takeaway and ENJOY!!