Zhang Yimou's One Second (China 2020) - Movie Review

Zhang Yimou. He doesn’t make bad movies. He makes movies with meaning, with stories, and with strong characters that the audience just falls in love with.

This movie, held up for over a year due to some “technical issues” was eventually released in late 2020 to much applause. And with good reason.

What’s this movie about?

A man, who has escaped from a forced labour camp, desperately hunts down the screening of a newsreel that features one second of footage of his estranged daughter.

However, a young female orphan steals the reel before he has a chance to watch it, setting off an attempt to recover the reel while at the same time developing an unorthodox relationship with the orphan and the projectionist in charge of showing it.

My Thoughts on this Movie

Here is a question: can a movie still be considered a masterpiece even if you know that the version you are watching is incomplete? As has been widely reported, Yimou was forced to remove around 45 second of footage from the film; footage that completes the storyline and motivations of our protagonist.

From the opening frame of the desert storm, to the final shot of a still desert, we know our main character has been through one hell of a journey.

As is expected with Yimou, the cinematography is flawless. His desert is hot and uninviting, brutal and dangerous, where a person might die of thirst if not for the arrival of a well-timed truck driver. There are many scenes of the desert, and Yimou has made sure that its role in the story reminds the audience that our protagonist only has one goal on his mind.

Strikingly, there is no musical score in this film. Instead Yimou has relied on several classic Chinese folk songs. A specific song is played in certain scenes in the desert, while the movie screening blares out another, more patriotic tune, with a keen audience singing heartily along. Then there is, of course, that beautiful theme song sung at the end by lead actress Liu Haocun (video of the song can be found below if you'd like to listen to it).

Yet another Yimou strength is on display in this film, and that is his ability to wring flawless performances from his lead characters. Zhang Yi is outstanding as the escapee, having lost 20 kgs to perform the role, and adding yet another bow to his versatile portfolio of performances that in recent times have included mega blockbuster hits The Eight Hundred, Sacrifice and Yimou’s cold war thriller Cliff Walkers.

Firstimer Liu Haocun shines in her role as Orphan Liu. Yimou has a keen talent in uncovering female leads, such as Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi, so she has big shoes to fill. She can been seen in Yimou’s Cliff Walkers, almost unrecognisable from this role, and in the surprise 2020 hit A Little Red Flower.

What Yimou does with cinematography and acting performances, he also does with his symbolic references. And this movie is littered with ironic jabs at Communism, Patriotism and Government Censorship.

Our protagonist is referred to as a “bad element” – a key word used in early propaganda to signify someone was an educated free thinker, and could rile up government dissent. People like him were jailed for petty crimes, as is evident by his only crime being the assault of a red guard.

A further reference to government censorship is on display when the movie the village is excited to view is all of a sudden unavailable due to “technical reasons”, as has long been the favourite phrase of the Chinese Government’s film censorship department. After the movie has been “cleaned” only then is it "approved" for viewing. Art imitating life, which then imitated art again. The irony that this film was held for release for over a year due to "technical reasons" is something not lost on an astute audience.

But perhaps the most symbolic element is the one that’s the most subtle. The Lampshade, made up of cells from the movie reel. Orphan Liu wants to create a lampshade for her young brother, a young boy obsessed with learning. He is the bright light, the lampshade made of propaganda movie cells, are the people he needs to hide from. Being a free thinker in this time period was a crime.

Now its time to discuss the important element of the film, the scene that’s missing that completes the film - if you would like to continue on further and learn more about this, please watch the video review embeded at the top of this article.

Overall

This is a beautiful film that’s made complete by knowing the full story. Somewhere out there is the full, uncut print of film, just waiting to be released to the world. And I am looking forward to that day, because that print will elevate this movie into Yimou’s Top 5 pieces of work.

It’s a thumbs up, and an even bigger thumbs up when the director’s cut is eventually released.

If you’ve seen it, what did you think?