The Road Home
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: May 25, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A great love story and a deeply moving celebration of simple lives.
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Shines with the kind of honesty that's very scarce in today's ultra-manipulative cinema. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A gorgeous film with a vision strong enough to sustain heart-tugging, heightened by San Bao's romantic score, that verges on the sentimental. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The result is an enchanting story of love from an idealized past that endures in the mundane present.
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A beautifully textured, disarmingly simple movie about romantic devotion. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
It's the rare film that trusts both its audience's intelligence and its emotions.
88
Philadelphia InquirerDesmond Ryan
The Road Home takes a path few movies choose to travel these days, but it's a very affecting journey.
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
This is a gentle, engaging narrative of constancy and devotion against all odds, both natural and bureaucratic, in which the past represents enduring family values and customs. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A cinematic ballad of such seamless construction and exquisite tonal balance it transcends most of the pitfalls of movies that aspire to a classic, lyric simplicity. Read full review
80
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The director finds poetry in the face of his lead actress, whose performance is as luminous and moving as the film itself. Read full review
80
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
The flutes soar a little too often, but Yimou's film is genuinely moving.
78
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Abundant arthouse crowd appeal. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Has a graceful simplicity that many will find hard to resist. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
It's a sweet tale, but the movie's real subject is Zhang, the camera's muse that the lens adores. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeJay Carr
As luminous as the star presence at its center. It's at once a touching teacher movie and an even more touching love story.
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
The lyrical The Road Home is less political and less flashy than some previous films by Zhang Yimou. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
With so many cynical Hollywood romances cluttering theaters, Zhang Yimou's unabashed simplicity is most welcome. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
It's a simple story, reminiscent of the Iranian film "The Wind Will Carry Us." Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The result is an interesting, if slightly unbalanced, hybrid: a social problem film with the warm heart of a deeply felt love story. Read full review
70
VarietyDerek Elley
Takes the simplest of stories and weaves a seductive, extremely moving portrait of a young woman’s unshakable love. Read full review
60
Washington PostRita Kempley
A nostalgic paean to China's fading pastoral ways, might easily be taken for an audition tape for Zhang Ziyi. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Predictable, not so much from his (Zhang Yimou) previous movies as from the work of the many sentimentalists who have already plowed this well-tilled turf. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJessica Winter
The Road Home is foremost enthralled, however, with its lead actress -- wide-eyed and pigtailed, revered in close-up after stunned close-up. Read full review
40
New Times (L.A.)Andy Klein
Sad to say, the story is simply too slight to sustain the film. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
By all current standards it's a startlingly ingenuous film. Read full review
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