The Road Home (1999)

This movie should have been released in mainstream theaters!

Simple, yet superb storytelling... a profoundly emotional experience... genuine and heartfelt... exquisite... breathtakingly beautiful...

Some movies leave you feeling dirty as you walk out of the theater, but this movie leaves you feeling clean and refreshed!

This is one drama that should be seen on the big screen, definitely.

I feel sorry for the mainstream people who missed it in the art-houses or don't know how good it is or don't know that it exists!

This film would have been a success in the big multi-plexes. I really believe that. An add campaign featuring colorful full page adds highlighting the films' critical praise and the actress Ziyi Zhang would have done the trick. The public is more sophisticated than Hollywood thinks. I'm sure significant numbers of young people would have flocked to see this film had it been released in mainstream theaters. Cinematic experiences like THE ROAD HOME are a rarity indeed.

Fmovies: Inspiring.Touching.I don't understand some criticism about the so call lack of scenes about the two lovers.Sometimes images can tell more than words and sometimes words can tell more than images.When the son say that his father when they finally get together never left his mother anymore i think those words say it all.It wouldn't be necessary to tell all the history,like their marriage,their routine,that would be predictable,not like the way the director wisely did.One thing that i notice is that people perhaps did not understand that the School itself is a character,an important character with meanings for everybody.And its not about a crush of two young.It is about education,tradition,philosophy of life,respect,spirituality.Its just simple human feelings,spontaneous.For some people maybe hard to understand the nature of this movie.For those who criticize i respect your opinion but reflect more and you will see a message of love.

OK, just saw it and read some reviews here. Thought I give a little input from my perspective. I came back from a good workout. Did some heavy bag training probably punched enough to knockout one hundred grown men. OK granted bags don't punch back or imply that I could last even one round against a pro but just to show that I'm no baby. I rarely cry if ever ;) Can't remember the last time I did at least. Well this night I cried like a little baby in this one. Can't put my hand around why either. Maybe it's the Oscar worthy performance from the beautiful actress Zhang Ziyi. Her performance pulled me in with her acting, her beautiful face, images of her braided pig tail hair flapping in the wind as she cutely trotted down the dirt path, her mandarin youthful voice and so on and so on. Or it could be what I think got to be the most stunning natural scenery I have ever seen captured in cinema. Spring, summer, fall, winter like the natural flow of life itself. Or it could be Zhang Ziyi IN the beautiful stunning scenic back drop that did it. Maybe it could be the music, the serene nostalgic music that strikes the chord in my heart. One reviewer put it Celtic like with Chinese flavor. But you guessed it, it's all the combination of the above weaved(pun intended for those who saw the movie) into such a simple, pure story of love and innocence. The story is simple yes but in the simplicity lies the complexity that is life. If I sit to examine the movie, I could write a thesis on lessons learned from watching this movie or more correctly lessons I already know from living but are brought out to the forefront from watching this movie. As a reviewer, I am opinionated and as such my view is always right unless shown otherwise. I'm a reasonable man after all. So for those who say it's too simple...idiots. You haven't reflected enough. For those who say the stories have been filmed time and time before and just a rehash...morons. Watch the movie again and talked to the idiots who have reflected enough. For those who thinks it's too slow or no action...schmuck get help for your ADD and then talk to the morons who talked to the idiots. OK don't take my criticism too seriously it's all in good humor. To each your own opinion. I care not to dive into the complexity of this movie. I neither have the time nor the motivation to write a long, long review. It's a very good movie to just enjoy and savor after getting bombarded with today's Hollywood pyrotechnics, special effect movies (titanic cough cough). And maybe you will be able to find complexity and truth in this simple little gem of a movie.

The Road Home fmovies. It is simply the most touching and beautiful movie I have ever seen.

A young man returns to his home village after his fathers death. There he meets his mother in deep sorrow. He finds a picture of his parents, and starts telling the story on how they met. I saw this after seeing Crouching Tiger, Hidden dragon. It is a totally different movie, but equals in acting, photography, music and quality. This is the kind of movie and kind of story Hollywood could never make. Hollywood romantic movies looks like pure plastic after this one.

From the first frames of this classic tale of love, I was absolutely drawn in to feel as though I was taken from a movie and into a tale of the story of two people who fell in love. There was no sappy story, and actually, there wasn't even a single kiss. But one could feel a sense of passion and love from all the characters and those who had a hand in completing this elegant tale. My goodness, I didn't feel as though I were watching people acting. I felt as if they were the actual people. The elders, towns folk, and main characters all embraced their roles down to the last thread of clothing, and it seems as though the location was an actual remote town. There was only a simple plot, where a son returns home by the request of the mayor, to a town where a grieving mother has to bury her husband, who once had taught at the town's school.

The writing was crafted quite well. The cast and crew's work showed their dedication. Definitely a movie for all ages, but a must for those who still believe in love and destiny. Although it's a tear- jerker, it's because the viewer feels for the characters, not because we had been force- fed sentimental moments. No one was killed, not a shot was fired, no cute animals, and no scenes of kissing. I'm trying to even remember if the mother and father had even held hands, yet one can feel that they both truly loved each other. Kudos to director Zhang Yimou, who crafted a thoughtful, moving, and believable movie.

The Road Home is a movie about a very standard and simple love on the first site story. The beauty is in the great acting and the spirit that comes out of the actors.

I liked a lot to watch how people in such villages live and how they dress and the movie gave attention to many daily events of those people.

Again, the acting is gorgeous, but the values that the movie is showing is great also and the strong bounds in the family is there in the movie and you can see how much the love and respect of a sun would make him do to meet his mothers wishes and how grateful student can be to a teacher gave his life to them.

Another point that I liked in the movie is how the director use color. In the current events, you will see black and white scenes and when flashbacks start the colors will come a life. The old days are better and there was the real life for the characters of this movie not the current days, except for the day the sun took his father's place in the school and start teaching the students of the village.

Great movie that I would love to watch again and again.