hey iso-freak, thanks for the recommendations. i'll look into those. i did also enjoy not one less. the scenes where the teacher goes on the news to find the boy and also when the school gets the colored chalk at the end were really touching! but the road home- and also to live- are my favorite yimou films. have you seen his new one, the house of flying daggers? very beautiful, but so radically different from his earlier movies (well, except for hero, of course....)