Coming Home (2014)

Must See Movie...

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It's a good movie. You believe her whole. But for me the cinema is much more than a script. A film is composed of a script, direction, photography, makeup, hairdressing, art, etc. But this film, having very good things, falls short on others that are indispensable, all of them are.The actors are great, everyone, from the first to the last. Everyone gets you into the movie.The script is fine. He even tells you things that have happened in other countries, with political backgrounds, and what they brought, and he tells you about focusing on a family and what happened to him.But photography, with those white spotlights that hurt the eye, makes the film very bad. It has good moments of photography but there are many times that are not mistakes, the worst thing is that they are wanted and badly wanted.It has an address that is quite good, but it conforms. It does not pretend to tell as does good cinema. Narrate with the camera does little people know and this is not the case. Someone will tell me that it is not mandatory, of course, but it does not earn points.It is a movie that is very well and you see with pleasure but to be a great movie you lack those details that take movies to be great.

It's always pleasing when a modern movie comes along and reminds us there are still movie makers who understand the basic, intrinsic feelings that motivate our everyday existence. Writers, directors, and producers who are willing to chance making a little less money for the sake of humanity. If you want Mad Max or Superman you won't find them here - so be ready to look into the depths of real souls, maybe even your own! For a story written by a former officer in the army of the PLR during the Cultural Revolution of Chairman Mao – Shanghai born novelist Geling Yan, certainly seems to suggest she has serious misgivings - about what was done to innocent victims in those dark days of political upheaval. While the screenplay by Zou Jingzhi for "Coming Home" is based on Yan's novel "The Criminal Lu Yanshi" it doesn't give us much insight into what crimes Lu committed – instead, it scores its points detailing the tragic aftermath that all too often follow the grief of separation - this time as direct result of political incarceration. In his role of the persecuted Professor Lu, Daoming Chen is terrific, while Li Gong is his equal as his long suffering wife Feng. The movie begins when their daughter, Dandan, played by the exquisite Huien Zhang is in her teens - she was three when Lu was first taken for punishment by the Communist police - so initially, has little understanding of his motivations or forgiveness for his 'betrayal' of the party.Cinematography by Zhao Xiaoding (The Great Wall '16) perfectly captures the living conditions and constraints placed on the people following the over-throw of the revolution. And director Zhang Yimou proves he still has the soul he displayed so superbly with "The Road Home" in 1999. His opening shot through the undercarriage of a passing train is promise of an intense personal journey. The use of rain adds to the feeling of being out-in-the-cold, hunted. Composer Qigang Chen, himself a victim of the Cultural Revolution, adds a rich music score, with piano solo's by Lang Lang, accompanied by a wonderful song without words. If you want action and monsters look towards Yimou's "The Great Wall" as you may feel disillusioned by "Coming Home" – otherwise, a high recommendation to discerning audiences.In some ways this could be looked upon as being the "Hachi" '09 for humans.In fact, this gem deserves a better presentation platform than via the trashy world movies channel - where it will fight for the odd play sessions with WM's usual ultra-low-life porn offerings. Should be transferred to Fox Masterpiece where it might possibly be better rewarded.

The film contains absolutely minimum information about the dark side of the cultural revolution,which the books was all about. If you want to know more about that history, try read some books or some foreign documentaries, because a commercial movie that reveals those will never be released in mainland China and probably wouldn't even be finished, especially from a highly influential director like Zhang.The brilliant side of Zhang, is that if you know enough about that time period, none of those ugly facts that this movie missed needs to be described. The novel was fictional anyways, it is a reflection and a look at that ugly truth from a narrow but interesting angle. But Zhang didn't want the film to be about that. He chose only the last 20-30 pages of the book, beautifully painted out a love story of that generation, and stopped there. It is like a rotten apple covered with nice tasty chocolate, you take a tiny bite, you see a little bit of what's under and realize it is bad, but then you still tries carefully licking only the chocolate cover, without touching or even thinking about the ugly inside, and by the time you finish you will still remember mostly the nice tasty part of the story.If it is the ugly inside you are looking for, if you want to know how bad did it get during that time. Like mentioned earlier, go read the novel or look for other documentaries. Born well after that time period, even I can't bare the pain sometimes when I hear stories of that period. So thank you Zhang, for making some warm memories, and something not too bitter to chew with.

I would say the royalty in China is alway considered very important especially for a woman in the past. In that age the Outbreak described, people deprived their emotions to others even their lovers for their safety. When Yanshi came back home and found the reality his wife Wanyu Feng had no memory to him, he was not desperate. He tried all kinds of methods to help Wanyu recover until he accepted the fact Wanyu couldn't recover forever. He always felt happy only if he stayed with his wife. In their eyes, I had no feeling about hatred but cherishing. I extremely appreciate the Wanyu's insistence for her husband Yanshi. I think this film shows the Chinese woman's attitude to love.