5/5 Most excellent of movies!
  by Grant Varga (NYC)
I couldn't love a movie more. Others have shared my opinion when I turned them onto it.
That's if you like heartfelt love stories.

5/5 A touching and compelling love story
  by Dennis Littrell (SoCal)
This is not as opulently beautiful as some of Zhang Yimou's films but the story is compelling and wonderfully told with deep affection for the characters. It's a love story beginning in the present with the death of a beloved village school teacher whose widow demands that he be honored by having his body carried--not driven--from where he died to his home in the small mountain village where he taught for over 40 years. The expense seems extravagant and where will the pallbearers come from? Most of the young people have left the village for the cities.

Returning for the funeral is the dead teacher's son. He realizes how important this ancient tradition of actually, physically carrying the body home, and so he goes about making that happen for his illiterate mother who is now all alone.

The real focus of the movie however is the extraordinarily beautiful face of the then 19-year-old Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000; Memoirs of a Geisha 2005) who plays Zhao Di, the mother as a young woman. We are flashed back to the teacher's arrival in the village and to the young Zhao Di doing everything in the exuberant way of first love that she can to catch his eye. Again and again Zhang has his camera focused tightly on Zhang Ziyi's face as she experiences love at virtual first sight and goes through all the emotions of love's labors. Pointedly Zhang Yimou shows only her face. Her body is covered in the padded winter clothes of the Chinese north.

In this focus on the skill, charisma and beauty of Zhang Ziyi one sees perhaps the influence of some Western directors like Ingmar Bergman, Krzysztof Kieslowski and Roget Vidam who made movies in homage to the beauty of their young stars, Bergman with Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann, Kieslowski with Juliette Binoche and Irene Jacob, and Vadim with Bridget Bardot and Jane Fonda.

As always in the films of Zhang Yimou one sees in the background or off to a side a gentle but penetrating subtext on the effect that communism has had on Chinese society. Here he gives not criticism but guidance as he carefully insists that the traditional ways have value and should not be completely shoved aside.

5/5 An Auteur's Gift!
  by Kelly J. Warburton
I happened to catch a preview of this video and was intrigued enough to purchase a copy. It is, in my opinion, a window into the heart of a Chinese community and offers a look at the hopes that are common to all people. The opening had me worried that it was some maudlin piece but having seen the preview I knew there had to be more to it. There is! Much more! And the cinematography is the dessert!

5/5 Zhang Yimou
  by BADGE (gold coast australia)
go to your nearest dvd store and buy all of Zhang Yimous films then get a case of your favourite Amber Nectar a huge Chinese takeaway and ENJOY!!

5/5 Beautiful, Touching
  by Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
For fans of faster-paced movies, be forewarned: this is extremely slow. For others who love a beautifully-filmed movie or a touching romance story whatever the pace, this Chinese film will do nicely.

Zhang Ziyi, who has now become an International star, never looked prettier and more appealing than here. Maybe that's because she plays such a sweet, innocent, non-violent (no martial arts here) character: a woman smitten with a new teacher in town and one who will go any lengths (in a totally pure sense) to be noticed and attract this man, mainly in the form of exercising incredible patience.

The long, middle segment of the film is in brilliant, almost stunning-looking color. The beginning and end of the film are both in black-and-white. The cinematography for both parts is magnificent. The film would really look good with a sharp Blu-Ray transfer.