I tend to catch this movie when it's already halfway into the story which usually discourages me to watch.
Today for the first time I saw it from beginning to end. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I never found it predictable and the characters just moved me to tears in such a geniune way. Perhaps the ending is not what everyone wants but it was the perfect ending for the movie and the characters, I believe.
Can't we all just get along?
I can't for the world imagine how anyone can hate this movie, but back in China, when this first played, it got plenty of negative press. They said it was cliched, sentimental, hopeless for a first-rate art director. Most probably that's because they hated the original ending, which was Zhao simply reading the fake letter to the girl, then the credits roll. IMHO the new ending is much superior: in the old, the girl never explained herself on the tape recorder, but she does so now.
Great ending. Zhang Yimou is not a stubborn director. He's willing to reshoot an ending if he deems it's better for the movie.
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