Return of the Repressed: Zhang Yimou's Coming Home

The latest work by Zhang Yimou, one of China's most prosperous and prolific filmmakers, is not only a narrative about homecoming, but also an allegory for the resurfacing of long-buried memories and the traumas caused by the Cultural Revolution. Anthony Carew deconstructs the film in the context of the director's twenty-eight-year career.

Additional keywords: repression, class, psychogenic amnesia, Gong Li, communism, Asian cinema.