The Road Home (mand)
City businessman Luo Yusheng returns home to his rural village for his father's funeral. Once there, he reminisces about the stories he has heard about the incredible love between his father and mother. And in the end, in making arrangements for his father's funeral, he realizes how lucky he is to have two such special people for his parents and strives as hard as possible to see that his father's last wishes are fulfilled.
Starring Zhang Ziyi, Sun Honglei, Zheng Hao, Zhao Yulin, Li Bin.

This beautiful Chinese love story was directed by acclaimed mainland director Zhang Yimou and was also the recipient of the Grand Prix Silver Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival 2000.

I have only seen one of award-winning Chinese director Zhang Yimou's films before, namely 'Shanghai Triad' and it was one interesting movie. Thus understandably, I had high expectations for another impressive film by China's most acclaimed director and I was not disappointed.

'The Road Home' also marks Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi ('Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon') film debut. The story begins as a narrative by businessman Luo Yusheng (Sun Honglei), who rushes home to Sanhetun, his home village, for his father's funeral. There, he discovers that his mother, Zhao Di (Zhang Ziyi) is adamant that his father's coffin has to be carried by hand from the morgue to his grave. The problem is that there aren't enough young men in Sanhetun to handle such an arduous task. And in contemplating the solution to this problem, he reminisces on the stories he has heard about the incredible love between his father, Luo Changyu (Zheng Hao), and mother. And so, through his narration, we enter into one of the most beautiful love stories ever told.

The story in 'The Road Home' is stunningly simple. There are no bad guys, no action scenes and no complicated plot twists. The love between the two lead characters is shown in such a touching and realistic way that one cannot help but to be amazed by the skillful manner in which director Zhang Yimou weaves a seemingly mundane plot into an absorbing and touching one.

He also masterfully uses the panoramic and scenic views of the Chinese countryside as a background to this wonderful love story. There is also not much dialogue to speak of in the movie. Most of the dialogue used is relevant only to the plot and not wasted on trivialities such as wisecracks.

Zhang Ziyi is simply heart-catching as the love-stricken Zhao Di and it is easy to why her career has reached such dizzying heights after only two movies. And she's only 20 years old! I have to admit though, that she does bear more than a passing resemblance to another famous Chinese actress, namely, Gong Li.

'The Road Home' is yet another superbly crafted movie to come out of China and I really hope that we'll get to see more of them in the future. There aren't many other ways to describe it other than beautiful, touching, realistic, absorbing and moving.