COMING HOME – 4PM

In the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, an amnesiac woman struggles to regain her memory and reconnect with her long-imprisoned husband, in this enthralling and emotional drama from Chinese master Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern, Hero). Feng Wanyu (played by superstar  Gong Li) is a teacher whose husband, Lu Yanshi (Chen Daoming) falls afoul of the authorities in the early 1970s. He’s sent away for “re-education,” leaving Feng alone with their only daughter, a spoiled ballet student named Dandan (Zhang Huiwen). When Lu escapes and attempts to make his way home, Dandan – who had been denied the leading role in a new production due to her father’s branding as an ideological outcast – commits a heartbreaking betrayal. Re-teaming with Zhang after their celebrated collaborations on such classics as Red Sorghum, Ju Dou, and Raise the Red Lantern, the luminous Gong expands her remarkable range even further with her performance as a woman pushed to the brink of mental collapse. For his part, Zhang masterfully balances intimate drama and political allegory within his deceptively simple story, demonstrating once again that his creative fire remains undiminished.

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