Thoughts on the film "One Second" 一秒钟 (2020)
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15 Apr 22

I'd been looking forward for a while to see this new film directed by 
Zhang Yimou. The drama was originally released in mainland China in 
2020. It's focused on a fugitive and an orphan whose paths cross and 
become linked by a single canister of film duirng the Cultural Revolution 
(1966-76).

It had been tipped to win awards at the Berlin International Film 
Festival, but was pulled at the last moment for "technical difficulties 
encountered during post-production" (another reason is suspected).

Last week it finally made its way to Dutch cinemas. It was an interesting 
setting for a story. I thought the plot was good in the way it showed the 
interaction and motivations of the characters in a historical context.

After reading some reviews, I see some criticism of the story being weak, 
with reference to this perhaps as a result of reshoots and changes to the
story. I didn't feel this way. Perhaps it isn't the story that was 
originally written. There was one place where I thought the pacing was a bit
off. Though I still enjoyed the film regardless.

A love for cinema is a theme running through the film. Perhaps I should 
watch the Italian Cinema Paradiso (1988) from my watchlist soon.

hk