PERFORMANCE PERSPECTIVES

"The Road Home"

PURITY OF PROCESS

This tale from director Zhang Yimou has the ambience of a folk story. It recounts a simple tale that has happened in the past with most of the film being a flash back to those times.

To describe it as simple is in no way belittling. It is an elegantly told story accompanied by fine performances. But what is remarkable about it, is that the ingredients of story are so confined and so sparsely told that the actors need to be able to play basic simple dramatic concepts comfortably and truthfully for long periods of time. In this style of production there is no hiding behind screeds of dialogue. A whole scene may be played (mostly in silence) in anticipation of the moment when two people finally look at each other. Under these circumstances actors need to be able to hold their "need" or "intention" with confidence and clarity and trust the dramatic potency of what will unfold. This is of course brilliantly achieved by ZHANG ZIYI and SUN HONGLEI who play the young lovers. They not only play with clear purpose but also can expand and hold moments of surprise with great confidence and truthfulness to heighten the power of the story telling.

Zhang Yimou's film exploits the purest principles of the acting process and the cast delivers their performances with exceptional skill and to great effect.

Well worth viewing for the performances alone.

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