LeaLea

This movie was one of the most visually stimulating experiences I have ever experienced. The use of color to express the emotions felt by each character in each scene was breathtaking. In one scene, I'll call it "leaves" you are touched as the foliage changes before your eyes. It left me speechless. It was more of an experience of visual poetry than anything else. Yimou Zhang proved yet again that he has amazing vision. If you do not like martial arts films, watch it for the visual aspects, if you do, You shall be pleasantly surprised at the superb quality and the gorgeous way that they regressed to the old school way of martial arts films. Another scene that will take your breath away is the lake. The fight scene takes place across a perfectly placid body of water that is as smooth as glass... Superb.

Rarely does a movie so captivate me with its honesty. This movie was extremely well done, and the characters are truthful, to a painful degree. The relationship between each one of them is a genuine experience for the viewer. I lost myself in the complexities that existed between the family, and the dynamic between each member of this crumbling family unit. I believe that we will see great things from Anton Yelchin in the future. His deadpan delivery of the poetically tragic events of puberty make for a beautiful personification of his character. My heart hurt for him, and I found myself loving his character and hating the end of the movie. This is a movie that should have gotten more publicity, for I hadn't even heard of it when I luckily found it on cable...