Hawaii International Film Festival 2009

In LuYi, a minor city of Zhao, the city lord bids farewell to his beautiful new bride, Li (Fan Bingbing), and leads his men into combat against the Qin state. With the men away at war, it falls to the women to sustain the city, a task that includes harvesting the wheat crop. Meanwhile two soldiers from Qin, weary of the horrors of war abandon their posts. While trying to escape, they are swept away in a river and are found by the women of Zhao, who are faced with a very special and intimate battle. Should they imprison these strange men, who seem to have fallen from the sky to awaken their senses and bring back memories of happiness? Though the women are perceptive, sometimes even the wisest thoughts can be blurred by the desire for a different life. Directed with warmth by He Ping, the film glows with a timeless beauty through which we come to understand the serenity the characters seek, and the pointlessness of the violence they left behind.