Coming Home

Name: Coming Home
Genre: Drama
Released: September 9, 2015
Duration: 109 min
Rating: 81
Cast: Bai Qing Xin, Chun Li, Daoming Chen, Huiwen Zhang, Jia-yi Zhang

2015

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 21 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Ratings

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7.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: September 9, 2015 | PG-13

Starring: Bai Qing Xin, Chun Li, Daoming Chen, Huiwen Zhang, Jia-yi Zhang, Li Gong, Ni Yan, Peiqi Liu, Tao Guo

Summary: Lu Yanshi (Chen Daoming) and Feng Wanyu (Gong Li) are a devoted couple forced to separate when Lu is arrested and sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner, just as his wife is injured in an accident. Released during the last days of the Cultural Revolution, he finally returns home only to find that his beloved wife has amnesia andLu Yanshi (Chen Daoming) and Feng Wanyu (Gong Li) are a devoted couple forced to separate when Lu is arrested and sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner, just as his wife is injured in an accident. Released during the last days of the Cultural Revolution, he finally returns home only to find that his beloved wife has amnesia and remembers little of her past. Unable to recognize Lu, she patiently waits for her husband's return. A stranger alone in the heart of his broken family, Lu Yanshi determines to resurrect their past together and reawaken his wife's memory. [Sony Pictures Classics]… Expand

Director: Yimou Zhang

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 109 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Peter Keough

Oct 1, 2015

After a period of creative drought, Zhang’s homecoming is a cause for celebration. Read full review

100

Rex Reed

Sep 8, 2015

Elegant and wrenching, Coming Home is a quiet, haunting masterpiece. Read full review

Bob Mondello

Sep 10, 2015

China's Cultural Revolution was a period of political turmoil, launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, a dark decade that many in Chinese society would prefer to forget. So it says something that Zhang Yimou's new drama Coming Home, which is set during those years, has been a big success in China. Read full review

Maggie Lee

May 24, 2014

Heartbreaking in its depiction of ordinary lives affected by political upheaval, this ode to the fundamental values that survive even under such dire circumstances has an epic gravity that recalls another great historical romance, “Doctor Zhivago.” Read full review

Bilge Ebiri

Sep 11, 2015

Coming Home works best on a more lived-in, emotional level. It presents a trajectory not uncommon in Zhang's films: a journey from howling passion to somber, almost tragic acceptance. Read full review

Lawrence Toppman

Oct 29, 2015

The slender story seems overextended at times, with Lu finding new ways each week to insinuate himself into Yu’s life. Zhang doesn’t make a point once if he can make it twice, and the characters don’t change much over the middle hour. Read full review

Elizabeth Kerr

May 24, 2014

Coming Home sinks into a conventional tragic romance rut that not even engaging performances by Gong and Chen can save. Read full review

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User Reviews

Brent_Marchant

Sep 24, 2015

A touching, bittersweet love story set amidst and after the turmoil of China's Cultural Revolution. With superb performances by Li Gong and Chen Daoming, this heartrending drama moves viewers with its probing examinations of regret, redemption and reinvention and surprises with its candorA touching, bittersweet love story set amidst and after the turmoil of China's Cultural Revolution. With superb performances by Li Gong and Chen Daoming, this heartrending drama moves viewers with its probing examinations of regret, redemption and reinvention and surprises with its candor about a disruptive, painful period in the nation's history. A nearly perfect film in every regard.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

LowbrowCinema

Sep 16, 2015

Beautifully balanced and perfectly directed, Yimou Zhang's COMING HOME takes bites out of your soul while examining the impact of China's cultural revolution in oh so delicate fashion. Zhang who has made hugely spectacular features is here back in small mode but his topics could not beBeautifully balanced and perfectly directed, Yimou Zhang's COMING HOME takes bites out of your soul while examining the impact of China's cultural revolution in oh so delicate fashion. Zhang who has made hugely spectacular features is here back in small mode but his topics could not be larger, bigger or greater. And all is held together by the wonderful face of Gong Li. COMING HOME is a lovely, powerful achievement.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

netflic

Oct 5, 2015

This movie is about waiting for the loved one to come back.
A Chinese intelligentsia family was broken by the Cultural revolution when the husband was taken as a political prisoner. And his wife faithfully waits for him to come back home all her life.
The movie is slow and mild yetThis movie is about waiting for the loved one to come back.
A Chinese intelligentsia family was broken by the Cultural revolution when the husband was taken as a political prisoner. And his wife faithfully waits for him to come back home all her life.
The movie is slow and mild yet powerful and profound. Gong Li (who is in my opinion one of the best Chinese actresses EVER) is back, and her performance is amazing. Overall, this is a touching story of not-so-long-ago history made into a high quality film.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Trailesque

Apr 19, 2017

I have enjoyed Zhang's films with Gong Li in the past, and this has its good points, but failed to really connect with me. A man, an intellectual imprisoned during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, comes home to his family after 10 years or so - but his wife does not recognize him, evenI have enjoyed Zhang's films with Gong Li in the past, and this has its good points, but failed to really connect with me. A man, an intellectual imprisoned during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, comes home to his family after 10 years or so - but his wife does not recognize him, even though she goes every month to the train station with hand-painted signs, hoping to see him. Thus begins a series of attempts by the man and the daughter of the family to get the Gong Li character to wake up and begin living in reality again. The scenery and acting are fine, but the story began to grow tedious.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Broyax

Aug 10, 2019

Il y a de l'idée dans ce traitement de l'après-révolution culturelle et cette famille déchirée, victime d'un excès de "rééducation", surtout pour la mère devenue Alzheimer à l'insu de son plein gré lorsque son mari bien-aimé revient enfin au bercail...

Mais l'idée -malgré la toujours belleIl y a de l'idée dans ce traitement de l'après-révolution culturelle et cette famille déchirée, victime d'un excès de "rééducation", surtout pour la mère devenue Alzheimer à l'insu de son plein gré lorsque son mari bien-aimé revient enfin au bercail...

Mais l'idée -malgré la toujours belle Gong Li et sa mignonne fille, bon petit soldat des jeunesses hitl... euh communistes révolutionnaires- est trop mal traitée pour que ça débouche sur quelque chose de valable et vraiment regardable. C'est trop mou, trop gnangnan et tellement lent que même une tortue perdrait patience et tracerait la route.

On va pas au bout de ce truc, même en avance rapide... Notons néanmoins (car c'est au début) les chorégraphies, les danses (?!) de la section féminine rouge (ou un machin dans le genre) au cours desquelles les petites camarades nous font un véritable petit ballet martial avec les fusils (sic !).… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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