COMING HOME (2014) – The Review

Let’s get this out-of-the-way. This new film from China has nothing to do with the Oscar-winning 1970’s classic COMING HOME from director Hal Ashby. Mind you, there have been Asian remakes of English language films such as the BLOOD SIMPLE (the Coen brothers’ first flick) inspiring A WOMAN, A GUN, AND A NOODLE SHOP. This cinematic adaptation of a celebrated novel begins during the most repressive era of the Mao regime (perhaps when “Red China” was the most crimson), when the country had cut almost all ties with the West. It looks back at how the political climate was tearing families apart as the trio at this story’s center learns that all their problems do not end after the reunion in COMING HOME.

The film begins sometime during those turbulent 1960’s. Teenager Dan Dan (Huiwen Zhang) is focused on rehearsing for the upcoming auditions for the ballet celebrating the military, “The Red Detachment of Women”. She’s pulled out of the dance hall and told to report to the school administration office. There she is surprised to find her mother, “Yu” (Li Gong). They are told by law enforcement agents that the family patriarch Lu (Daoming Chen) has escaped from a re-education camp (a prison really) where he has been held for nearly a decade as a political dissident (a “rightist”). Yu and DanDan are told to contact the authorities if Lu approaches them. That night, in the hallway of her apartment building, DanDan encounters her father. The frightened girl tells him to leave, then rushes downstairs to see the agent stationed outside the building. Before he flees, Lu pushes a note under Yu’s door telling her to meet him at the train station the next morning. That next day, he is re-captured before they meet. Many years pass and the cultural revolution sweeps through the country. This prompts the release of all political prisoners including Lu. As he walks down the platform Lu is surprised to see DanDan waiting for him, but no sign of Yu. She takes him to her dormitory at the textile factory (she’s given up dance after her father’s past cost her the lead in the ballet). She tells him that they will go to see Yu after her shift is over, but Lu cannot wait. When he encounters his wife, she seems confused and distant. Later she thinks that Lu is a past tormentor named Fang. When DanDan arrives with some state officials they explains that Yu suffers from a form of trauma-induced amnesia. While he adjusts, they offer him a place to live in a vacant storefront across from there. A doctor tells him that something may trigger her old memories which inspires Lu to devote all his time and energies toward attempts (old photos, letter, food, music) to rekindle their love.

The three actors that form this family unit give strong, nuanced performances. The most famous of the trio, Gong takes on the far less showy, but very pivotal role as the mentally damaged mother. Her tightly withdrawn body language and soft eyes reflect how the cruelties of life that have almost worn her down while pushing her towards the confused fog that envelops her. But many times that fragile outer shell is used to protect her inner strengths as a survivor. The same may be said of Chen as the more proactive half of the couple. In the film’s more action-oriented first half, he’s trying to blend into those shadows, determined to be with his loved ones once more. Briefly Chen shows us Lu’s joy as he sees his love across the way at the station, however briefly. After his release he becomes a man on another mission with the mysteries of the mind rather than the law blocking him from Yu. Chen conveys those frustrations along with the delights of small victories that present a glimmer of hope. Zhang is pure razor-focused energy as the lead ballet role becomes her only goal, one that cost her dearly. In the film’s second act she shows us how time has smothered that inner fire. And there’s her despair over her damaged relationship with her mother who can only recall DanDan’s mistakes. The cast’s expert work completely draws us into this intimate story.

Director Yimou Zhang (HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS treats this script adaptation by Jingzhi Zou from Geling Yan’s novel with a strong steady, subtle hand, never going in for showy storytelling gimmicks. It unfolds at a natural, leisurely pace allowing us to drink in the period atmosphere and to appreciate the cast’s fine work. This is quite a balancing act, since the film’s first half almost plays as a thriller, capped off by a real nail-biting chase at the train station. Then it shifts gears into this slower quest into a deeply buried past with elements that may remind viewers of themes from STILL ALICE and THE NOTEBOOK. All this is shot with a soft brown glow that evokes a sense of nostalgia and regret. Lu is an unlikely hero who will not give up as he tries to rescue his wife from a mental monster that separates them. Despite the unfamiliar settings, COMING HOME is a quiet, intimate love story that will touch audiences around the globe.

3.5 Out of 5

COMING HOME opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas