Customer Reviews
exquisite - By: Honest John, 20 Aug 2008 
A beautifully filmed story of exquisite tenderness.
Starting off in black & white, a student comes home to his grieving, aged mother & to bury his father who has died outside the village in which he was the teacher. The mother wants to have the body carried home although the son & the mayor of the village prefer to have the body brought in a vehicle. The story then moves into the past & transitions into colour showing how the mother, as a young & extraordinarily pretty but shy 18 year old girl, meets the teacher on his first arrival in the village.
I guess you would calll it love at first sight, as she contrives to be close to him, walking past the school each day, standing by the road as he walks home, taking water from a well overlooking the school. Their relationship blossoms in so far as it can, given the conventions of the time when, without warning, the teacher is taken from the village, but promises to return. The young girl spends days by the side of the road waiting for him until his eventual return. In watching this poignant story, the viewer graduallly understands why she wants to pay this last tribute to her dead husband.
The use of drab black & white for the present day, transitioning into breathtakingly vivid colour for the past reinforces the difference in mood between the two ages - the love story of the past contrasting with the sorrow of the present.
Simply beautiful! - By: Mr. T. A. Maurice, 13 Mar 2008 A cynic would probably say that this film represents an idealised view of love,but so what.
One soon becomes wholly immersed in the story,and completely captivated by Zhang Ziyi's portrayal of a young woman in love.
One can see in this early film Zhang Ziyi's ability to convey emotion by a subtle facial expression that was so apparent in "House of Flying Daggers"
If you do not find this film touching,I suggest you check you still have a pulse!
A Beautiful Film - By: R. DONLAN, 31 Oct 2007 I have read alll the glowing reviews on Amazon & I have to wholeheartedly agree with them.
This is a wonderful film, with a simple but touching plot & as we have come to expect from a Zhang Yimou film it looks beautiful & has a score to match.
Its just achingly beautiful, capturing the essence of love & devotion a woman can have for a man, from the first day they meet to the last, as a romantic at heart I dont think I have ever seen it done better than this.
And as for Zhang Ziyi she is, & was always going to become a star, she lights up the screen.
I can only say you have to see it.
The most beautiful movie which you have ever seen...Unforgettable - By: Y. Wu, 04 Aug 2007 The most beautiful movie which you have ever seen...Unforgettable !!! Make you question yourself who you reallly love.
World, Meet Zhang Ziyi - By: John Eyon, 14 Jul 2007 Try to endure the monochrome prologue & epilogue portions of this movie. It'll be worth it because the core of this movie is a brightly colored flashback to a Chinese village in the 1950's. The story is essentiallly one long flirtation as a young woman over the course of four seasons tries to win the attention of the new schoolteacher.
This was Planet Earth's introduction to the delightful Zhang Ziyi (or, for Westerners expecting the family name last: Ziyi Zhang). It is hard to believe that this exuberant girl is played by the same actress who later played the dour whirlwind in 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'.
Just as it was inevitable that the schoolteacher falll in love with the young woman, it was inevitable that legions of movie-going Earthlings would falll in love with Zhang Ziyi.
