This film tells the story of innocence and love. It's is not overly sentimental and performances are honest and sincere. The change in color is very symbolic as happy memories are depicted with plush colors. Zhang Ziyi as Zhao Di is really great here as her determination, will, and very giving nature makes her all the more likeable. Her sweet smile is very infectious! I was moved when she accidentally falls and drops here bag while running; emphasized the whole importance of the bowl. Very moving scene.

Director Zhang Yimou deserves credit for beautifully telling the story. Simple things (changing color of season from spring to winter) make for some stunning visuals like wheat fields flowing with the breeze and brightly leaf filled forests. Add a serene soundtrack and this is a movie worth seeing. See it for my sweetie Zhang Ziyi!

Not a lot happens in The Road Home. This is a romance that lacks the typical trappings of Hollywood romances. There are no misunderstandings, no passionate scenes, no talk of fate, little drama of any sort. You are never in doubt these two get together, because you are told over and over that they do. The movie is not about suspense, but simply about watching something unfold.

What you have is a simple, pretty little movie about a young girl who develops a crush on a new schoolteacher in her village. She throws herself at him in a very chaste way, and a tremendous amount of the movie is pictures of the pretty young girl in beautiful fields and forests looking at him from a distance with happiness or anxiousness. In hindsight it's a little silly, but it works.

I found the first half of the movie a little slow, although by the halfway point, as the movie moved from non-eventful to slightly eventful, it became increasingly touching.

It's not really a great love story. The girl basically just thinks the guy is pretty. And while it's not a typical Hollywood romance, it still is a little manipulative. But even though I usually don't like movies where little happens, I genuinely enjoyed this one.

"Road Home" is a simple and yet very sweet and very touching account of the lifelong romance between Di and Yusheng. It's a love at first sight concept, as 20 year old Yusheng comes as teacher to an isolated rural village and meets 18 year old Di. The movie recounts the development of their romance against many obstacles that seemed to be working against them.

The heart of the movie is essentially a flashback, as Changyu (Yusheng and Di's son) returns to the village after his father's death and from that visit the story of his parents early love is told. Director Zhang Yimou used a very effective technique of filming the "current" scenes at the beginning and end of the movie in black and white, while the flashback portion was filmed in vivid colour.

Essentially a story about the power of love, it is a simple story, not filled with excitement, but rather with a sort of innocence as these two young people fall in love with each other. This would have to count as truly one of the better romances I've ever seen. 9/10