One of the best and most important films of this decade

This is the greatest film from the People's Republic of
China I've ever seen. Not to mention the most important
and courageous; the Tiananmen Square massacre literally
split the film (and the lives of its characters) in half.
This is the number one taboo topic in China, of course,
and no one else dares to touch it. For their trouble,
the director and screenwriter got banned from filmmaking
for 5 years. (I thought they could have gotten a lot worse.)
The DVD has interviews with the filmmakers, who remained
upbeat, even poetic about their plights. But the film
is not preachy at all; it is more of a mournful remembrance
of what happened in the late 80s when the filmmakers came
of age. I wonder how much of it is autobiographical. In
a time when Chinese movies are dominated by Zhang Yimou's
fascist budget-busters on the one end and Jia Zhangke's
mind-numbing formalist exercise on the other, Lou Ye's
unsung triumph is such a breath of fresh air. One day
it will be recognized as the important masterpiece that
it is.