Movie recommendation: The Road Home by Zhang Yimou

Those who frequent my blog are aware that I am in the midst of a Chinese foreign film phase. However, with each passing movie that I watch, I get a little bit more addicted to them. I am aware though that due to selection and availability issues, I am probably only getting the most popular (and probably the critically acclaimed) ones here in the US, but regardless of that, I find this genre to be refreshing. Zhang Yimou, the Chinese director/producer is turning out to be one of my favorite characters for his honest and simple, yet incredibly powerful movies. He directed "Not one less", which I recommended in an earlier post, and his two biggest films here in the US are 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'Hero'.

'The Road Home' is a film direct by Zhang in 1999, and stars Ziyi Zhang, who is probably China's most popular female film star export to the world. She looks really young in this film, probably because she is.

Anyway, 'The Road Home' is the story about this college graduate who returns home to his village upon the death of his father. He finds his mother, understandably so, in a state of terrible depression and mourning. He then narrates the beautiful courtship of his parents, which is what this movie is about. I'm usually a sucker for this kind of movie formula - simplicity, honesty and emotion all tied in. This is usually pretty difficult to pull off but in this case, I found this story to be incredibly moving.