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Coming Home, a second conviction
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Based on a novel by Yan Geling, Zhang Yimou (Red Sorghum, Under the Hawthorn Tree, The Road Home...) has managed to direct an intimate and emotional story starring his muse and ex-wife Gong Li.
The film is set in China in the years of Mao's Cultural Revolution. The first part mainly focuses on the daily lives of a generation that is victim of repression, poverty and the most absolute resignation. The second part tells of the dramatic consequences that the Revolution had for a family, once that period had finished.
Lu is an intellectual who is in prison for ideological reasons. When he regains freedom, his homecoming will mean a second conviction, since his cherished wife has had an accident, and does not recognize him. Lu will have to face a daughter, who blames him for all their failures and disowns him, and a wife who confuses him with another cruel person. Day after day, all his efforts will be aimed at gaining recognition of his beloved. He will resort to unimaginable emotional and physical strategies so that his wife remembers him and his tender gaze. Despite his efforts, he will be only accepted as a foreigner under a false identity.
With an excellent performance and a photograph full of nuances, Zhang Yimou knows how to show those tiny details which are of great importance in the life of the protagonists. So, the blow of a door, a mere glance, and the contemplation of the rain become part of the story, too. The whole film oozes great sensitivity and is treated with a slow cadence. His characters are persons whose dreams are daily thwarted by the devastating historical moment they have to live. However, the great deal of sadness and distress they feel is compensated for by the tenderness of story. It is a luxury that very few directors achieve to convey, and we feel of being watching great quality cinema.
Texts: Núria Farré. facebook@cinemaperaestudiants.cat
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