Zhang Yimou’s best film of the 2000s decade, this is a drama-cum-tragedy that is never uncomfortable to reveal its sentimentalism amid stunning action set-pieces.

This culturally vibrant but slowly-paced drama lacks the emotional pull that Zhang Yimou’s earlier films are famous for. 

Arguably Zhang’s masterpiece, this plays out like an opera, at times ceremonial, at times tragic, but always tense and captivating.

A haunting circular tragedy, Zhang Yimou’s tale of passion, lust and angst in rural China is a visual powerhouse.

Zhang Yimou’s greatest achievement comes in the form of this intimate and emotionally devastating through-the-decades account of one Chinese family’s tumultuous existence through the momentous times of the Cultural Revolution.