'One Second': Zhang Yimou is back

Zhang Yimou certainly still knows how to compose an eye-catching film scene but One Second is a far cry from Chinese masterpieces such as Red Sorghum or Raise the Red Lantern that in the late 1980s and early 1990s forced his international breakthrough. He places a nostalgic, beautiful farce during the Cultural Revolution.

One Second is a mild, innocent film but that did not stop the Chinese censor from intervening. A prisoner escapes from a labour camp to watch a newsreel in which his daughter is starring. The film is too damaged to be shown, but the entire (desert) village does its best to make the magic of cinema happen anyway.

ONE SECOND
CN, dir.: Zhang Yimou, act.: Zhang Yi, Liu Haocun, Fan Wei