A smaller, more toned down film than I'm used to from Yimou. At its heart it is an extremely engaging film about a stubborn woman just wanting justice and also serves as a lovely character piece with a dashing of good humour, in the mean time also offering a nice overview of China and an interesting take on the whole madness of bureaucracy angle. It's never amazing, but up until its final moments, which mess up the character arcs, it is very enjoyable.

#11#, reviews, dir Zhang Yimou, Gong Li!

Very good movie about two incredibly stubborn people.

A man gets kicked in the balls, and his wife embarks on an epic quest to get an apology. This is what Zhang Yimou excels at: getting you to care about down-to-earth people with simple problems. He's wonderful at bringing Chinese culture to life, you feel absolutely submerged in the environment at every moment, whether it's a tiny village or the bustling streets of the city. The whole cast is awesome. A thoroughly enjoyable film with an ending that will catch you off-guard.

I have never in my life rooted so much for a woman who kicked a man in the junk, as I did with this movie!

I'm astonished that such a simple concept propels this noble and remarkable story - it's inexplicably riveting. No other Zhang film has compared to this rich cultural/character study.