Actualités

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,...