Metrograph

In the title role of a hard-headed, pregnant country woman whose search for justice after her husband takes a beating at the hands of their village’s short-tempered head man sends her on an arduous journey through a labyrinth of bureaucracy, Gong Li leads a cast almost entirely comprised of nonprofessionals—real rural Chinese, the veracity of their performances at times assured by the use of hidden cameras—in this unusual look at life contemporary China from Zhang, who’d made his name through lavish period films. “[Li] emerges as a figure of astonishing fortitude… Zhang’s keen and universal view of human nature raises his work far above its own visual beauty and into the realm of timeless storytelling… Weave[s] its dramatic spell while providing a clear, detailed picture of the way China works.” —The New York Times

35mm print courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Distributor: Sil-Metropole