[Zhang Yimou] delivers between flashy epics, this tender, understated romancer touches the heart with a disarming, almost stealthy sweetness.

Zhang skillfully tells an emotionally compelling love story that focuses on the deep injustices of the Cultural Revolution era. It's probably his most emotionally resonant film since To Live.

While it's a minor work from Zhang I still enjoyed it.

A very sweet and sad tale based on one of the many stories from Cultural Revolution. It feels personal since the heroine claims that she wants to be a writer, and at the end of the film she goes abroad to study. Coincidentally, the author is a Chinese (American) living in Florida who seems to know exactly how it felt living under Mao Tse Tung. It was brilliantly translated to film by the accomplished Zhang Yimou.