Romance revisited

>> The Road Home is a triumph of love

by JOANNE LATIMER

"Really vulgar commercial films dominate our screens." --Zhang Yimou

So then what's a theme song that sounds like it's straight from Titanic doing in the new Zhang Yimou film? That nauseating, tin-whistle ditty from Cameron's blockbuster is definitely the ghost that haunts the musical score swelling throughout The Road Home. Every romantic moment of Zhang Yimou's new film gives rise to a song that recalls Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio sailing off the nose of the Titanic. It's a horrible intrusion, intended to associate the film's romance with the famed juggernaut of American epics.

Despite this jarring tribute, Zhang Yimou has directed yet another moving piece of cinema. The Road Home is unspoiled by what the director disparages as today's vulgar movies. The maverick from China's Fifth Generation of new-wave filmmakers seems incapable of a wrong move.

The Road Home is about a young businessman who's called home to the rural village of his youth when his father dies. He finds his mother keeping vigil at the schoolhouse, where his father taught. She wants the funeral to follow ancient custom: the coffin should be carried from the hospital to the cemetery and she will weave the funeral cloth on the village loom. The cloth is possible, but there aren't enough able-bodied souls left in town to carry Luo Yusheng's father.

Then the film switches from black and white to colour film, and we see the youthful romance bloom. It's sweet, yes, and tender. The smallest gesture is loaded with meaning as the two lovers determine the sincerity of their attraction.

Luo Yusheng's mother, Zhao Di, is 18 for the flashback, played by the gorgeous young Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger). The father, as a youthful schoolteacher, is a real hottie, played by Zheng Hao. They sizzle, within an acceptable context, destined to be the village's first "love marriage."

The Road Home isn't as caustic as his last film, Not One Less--also set in a remote village--but let's not assume Zhang Yimou has turned into a middle-aged softie. The unpredictable auteur will probably do an exposé on slavery next, or on the repression of women. The only things you can count on are his trademark splashes of red and a ripping good story.

The Road Home opens Friday, Sept. 21 at Cinéma du Parc