Coming
Home is a moving and sublimely beautiful story about a couple being
separated for many years, traumatic events occurring in the interim, and then
the couple having to face the difficult challenge of reuniting. The story begins with their daughter
Dan Dan (Zhang) being called to her dance academy administrator’s office with
her mother Wanyu (Li Gong) to inform them that Dan Dan’s father Lu (Chen) has
escaped from prison, and the two are supposed to inform the authorities if he
comes home. Lu was sent to a labor
camp for political reasons during the Cultural Revolution when Dan Dan was only
three years old, and since he could not send them letters during his
incarceration, his daughter feels no attachment toward him, and wants her
mother to tell the officers if he appears.
Told in a contemplative style where nuances in
emotions are carefully expressed by the actors (especially by Li Gong), it
feels like a detective story in which bits and pieces of knowledge finally lead
up to a satisfying explanation.
Those bits and pieces involve wrenching disappointments (for Dan Dan in
her dancing, for Lu in his wife’s reactions to him, and for Wanyu in coping with
the aftermath of two traumatic events) that shape their experiences and their
relationships for years to come.
Writers Geling Yan (novel) and Jingzhi Zou (screenplay) appear to be
well enough informed about psychological profiles and amnesic disorders to
portray the characters convincingly, and Director Yimou Zhang (Hero, House of Flying Daggers) rolls the
story out with measured grace while keeping the viewer engaged.
I was intrigued by the near absence of touch
among family members. Even when
Dan Dan is sobbing, her father listens compassionately, but never puts his arm
around her. The most eloquent (and
only) touch is when Lu is playing the piano and Wanyu puts her hand ever so
tenderly on his shoulder (and Lang Lang's piano playing is supreme). But
otherwise, even the mother and daughter never embrace. Perhaps this characteristic is
culturally Chinese and I am uninformed, but it seems very odd to me, and I
haven’t noticed it in other Chinese films.
Overall, I loved this film for its
messages—particularly that of not jumping conclusions when someone is acting
strangely—of loyalty, of the beauty and enduring satisfaction of love, and
human adaptability and creativity.
You will be better grounded after you
see this film.
Grade: A By Donna
R. Copeland
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