THE ROAD HOME (Wo de fu qin mu qin) -----------------------------------
Luo Yusheng (Honglie Sun) is called home from the city by the mayor of his hometown when his father dies. The mayor (Guifa Chang, present day) has a problem honoring his mother's wish to have her husband's casket carried back to their rural village, as all the able bodied men have moved into the city. His grief stricken mother (Yuelin Zhao, present day) makes Yusheng recall her and his father's locally legendary courtship and he becomes determined to enact the old custom designed to keep his deceased father from forgetting "The Road Home."
LAURA:
Director Zhang Yimou ("Ju Dou," "Raise the Red Lantern") ends a trilogy of sorts with "The Road Home," his third based-on-fact tale revolving around a determined young woman after "The Story of Qui Ju" and "Not One Less." While the first two films were shot in a grittier style than his previous work, "The Road Home" is a lush, widescreen film with images recalling his earlier work "Ju Dou."
Zhao Di (Ziyi Zhang, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," past) is a non-educated country girl who lives alone with her blind mother (Bin Li). When a new schoolteacher arrives, the entire town turns out to see him and Di is immediately smitten with the young man. Luo Changyu (Hao Zheng) makes eye contact with the pigtailed girl in the bright red jacket.
Di goes out of her way to cross Changyu's path, even travelling to the farther well behind the schoolhouse for her water (a comical scene shows a local foil Changyu's attempt to also get water while Di is at the well). Eventually, it's the Zhaos' turn to host dinner for Changyu and he presents Di with a barrette to match her jacket. A dramatic separation is followed by a harsher one as Changyu is called back to the city (Mao's reversal on his educational program), and then again after he defies city officials and sneaks back to see Di.
This moving tale is adapted from his novel "Remembrance" by Bao San. Very little dialogue is used in the central flashback, where images speak and non-obtrusive narration fills in the story. The themes of everlasting love and home are referred to often in simple, almost offhand ways. Memory keeps love alive with the imagined sound of a loved one's voice.
Zhang Ziyi, who went on to international acclaim after "Crouching Tiger," is luminous as the young Di - after a look from the handsome Changyu, her face brightens even more - this is star wattage. Zhang Yimou, who first discovered Gong Li, has an eye for talented and photogenic actresses.
Present day scenes are filmed in a bluish black and white and set in a snowy winter, while the central flashback is in glorious color. The past is dreamlike perfection, somewhat like "The Wizard of Oz," where home was also the desired end. The film will also recall "Witness" as men build a new school while women prepare their lunch or Majid Majidi's "Children of Heaven," where the beauty of a craftman at work is celebrated. Zhang's current heroine chases after the mayor's vehicle down a dirt road just as his last did in "Not One Less."
Cinematographer Yong Hou ("Not One Less") frames Di in a doorway surrounded by bright orange pumpkins as the son recalls his father saying that sight of his mother was like a portrait. His black and white images are also artful, as when a funeral procession trudges through the snow on foot, backlit by the headlights of the cars snaking behind. Editor Ru Zhai ("Not One Less") dissolves shots of Di both coming and going on her daily trek to find a lost hairpiece. (That barrette makes one wonder if Zhang will be typecast receiving and losing hair ornaments to men!) The one unfortunate note in this symphony of filmmaking is Bao San's score, which borders on plagarizing the theme from "Braveheart."
Yusheng honors his parents at film's end by teaching one class in his father's old school. 'Know the past, know the present' chant the students. "The Road Home" poignantly shows us both through the eyes of a son just coming to understand his father's lesson.
A-
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