Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Tim Kidner I refer to, of course, 2008's Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing being designed and choreographed by the visionary director of this, his first film - China's own Yimou Zhang.And here is where it all started - though previously he had been a cinematographer - and it shows - Red Sorghum is beautiful, visually but with that extra edge of human darkness; lust, greed, violence, death, murderous invaders, all set within or close to the wavering seas of sorghum grasses, grown for making a blood-red wine.Both blood and wine flows copiously at times as this tale gets handed down through the generations; a story that starts simply but which builds into a brazen attack on the senses, the superb use of colour mixing with excellent dramatic acting, slow-moving and evocative long takes and occasional bursts of action - and some comedy, good natural comedy that's actually a joy and which breaks down any boundaries concerned with race, or time.I quite like the narration that occasionally ables us and the songs, more like spiritual war-dances than pretty ditties.If you prefer your Chinese/Hong Kong movies more action-based with high- kicking martial arts or big-scaled epic battles, then this might leave you disappointed - this is more Art-house, something to ponder and savour than having your eyeballs filled with non-stop thrills.

Champcai This is the first film of Zhang Yimou as a director and it wins a number of prestigious prizes in international film festivals.I remember watching this film with my parents in a local theater when I was very little, so little that I could not understand the simple story told by the film. Back then, the only thing I could remember was full screen of blood-like red colors, the vast and boundless sorghum as well as the sonorous and high-pitch northwest folk songs.The storyline is quite simple: a pretty young lady who is forced to marry a rich and leprous winery owner but who falls in love with one of the workers. After the old man dies, they live together and manage the winery. But then it comes the Japanese invasion and the family is destroyed.Zhang Yimou starts his career in film industry as a cinematographer and the control of colors and scenery is master level. Unlimited stretch of sorghum waving in the wind, dazzling red colors that nearly disable you from opening your eyes and the loud folk songs abundant in indigenous flavor all symbolize a strong sense of life and impress the audience with vitality and passion. This is also the first film that I have watched and personally it has formed a definition of a film in my mind. It is not the best yet the most cherished memory of film for me.

sc8031 Here is a solid film by Yimou Zhang, from the fifth generation of Chinese directors. Red Sorghum is told as a flashback, a narration by the main character's grandson. Gong Li plays an attractive lower-class Chinese woman who is sent, against her will, to be married to an old leper who runs a winery.The story takes place on the eve of the Japanese occupation before World War II and later features some ugly scenes from their invasion. There is an underlying motif regarding feminism (a lot of this generation of Chinese directors seemed to deal with this) and the inability of females to be even remotely empowered in this time and place. I enjoyed seeing the class boundaries and customs of late-Qing China, the occasionally goofy sense of humor, and the almost lawless, ruthless communities out in the desert.The film takes place in only a handful of locations, but features some gorgeous cinematography. The vibrant red colors (perhaps an allusion to Communist rule and foreshadowing bloodshed? It's hard to tell whether this film is for or against Communist China) are illustrated vividly by the sorghum wine and the long views of the sun setting across the Chinese desert. The pacing is slow but efficient and the story is a memorable one.It's quite indisputable (to me, at least!) that, although this was Yimou Zhang's first film, it's loads better than his later movies, "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers". Hopefully one day he'll catch up to where he started.

robzilla2001 Credit goes to Yimou for stripping this epic 2 novel series down to this spare and gorgeous little hour and a half. For all the recent fantastic forays into Chinese fantasy, this story (which is allegedly true) shown as it is, is as close to a fairy tale as it gets, at least until the very end. Every shot is a painting. For some reason this film is still near-impossible to find on DVD. I truly hope it is not being suppressed for anti-Japanese sentiment expressed in it. That would be a terrible shame. This film was released shortly before Tienanmenn (sp) and it has a boldness and frank humor rarely seen in Chinese film since.