While the director and actors may be known in China, they are totally unknown to me. So it is with an open mind that I invested my evening hours to watch this 2003 film on my TV screen.
I liked it very much. The film was shot mostly in the rural parts of the Jiangxi province in China. The story was about first love, a promise broken, and the subsequent regret that followed. The pace was unhurried, acting decent, and the setting beautiful to look at. The story was told through a young man who left the village to go to university and then wound up working and living in Beijing. Ten years has passed before he returned to the village for a quick visit. There, by chance, he ran into the woman he once loved deeply as a teenage.
As I write these notes I still recall scenes of the fast bike ride down the country path, the walk over the foot bridge, and the herding of ducks through the marshes. According to the director, this film was not expected to be a commercial success in China. I find this to be a shame. It is one of the best love stories I have ever watched on a screen.
