One Second (一秒钟)

One Second (一秒钟, Yi miao zhong) is a 2020 Chinese drama directed by Zhang Yimou, set in a remote desert town in northwest China during the Cultural Revolution, in which an escaped convict, a homeless teenage girl, and a village projectionist are brought together by a damaged reel of film. Zhang has framed the film as a love letter to cinema, and critics have received it in those terms, while noting the censorship history that shadowed its release.^{5 • 3}

Production and censorship

One Second was scheduled to premiere in Competition at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival but was withdrawn four days before its scheduled screening, with the official reason given as "technical reasons with post-production." The withdrawal was widely assumed to reflect political discomfort with the film's Cultural Revolution setting, though no details were ever given, and it remains unclear outside China whether the film was ordered cut or simply failed to clear its permits.^{4 • 6}

The production crew reportedly returned to Gansu province for reshoots, suggesting changes to the final cut, and the released version was reportedly shortened by about a minute.^{4 • 8} One reviewer has suggested that the short coda set two years later may have been added at this stage, though this remains speculation.⁹ The film opened in China at the end of November 2020, almost two years after the Berlin withdrawal.^{6 • 10}

It was shot in and around the town of Dunhuang, known for its sand dune-covered landscape.⁴ The screenplay is credited to Zhang Yimou and Zou Jingzhi, with photography by Zhao Xiaoding and editing by Du Yuan.^{1 • 9}

Release and reception

After its Chinese release, One Second was announced as the closing night film of the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, and Neon secured North American rights from the sales agency Wild Bunch.⁴

Critical response was strongly positive. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 100% Tomatometer from 25 reviews, with an average of rated reviews of 7.40/10, and a 75% Popcornmeter score from fewer than 50 audience ratings.⁷ Reviewers repeatedly described it as a love letter to cinema. Jessica Kiang, a film critic writing for Variety, praised its "gorgeous eye, a droll sense of humor and a big, full celluloid heart" despite the censorship it had undergone.³ Several critics noted the deliberately drab palette of muted blues, greys, and browns suited to the Mao-suit period, a contrast with the saturated color of Zhang's better-known historical epics.³ Others placed it in the tradition of Cinema Paradiso as a tribute to the moviegoing experience, while cautioning that its tone is darker and its reasons for loving film different.^{9 • 7}

Themes

Despite the delay and sanctioned reshoots, the released film still presents an unflattering portrait of life during the Cultural Revolution, celebrating the transporting power of cinema while acknowledging its misuse as a tool for propaganda.⁵ The critique operates on several levels: the dusty poverty of everyone in the town except Mr. Movie, whose position as projectionist makes him the most respected man in the village and an opportunist who doubles as its unofficial mayor, and his desperation to preserve a monopoly on his own job.^{6 • 7}

A scholarly close reading of the film argues that the newsreel reel functions simultaneously as the state's propaganda archive, the father's pursuit of personal testimony, and an object of everyday scarcity, staging conflicts between overlapping regimes of memory; the same analysis reads the film's festival withdrawal and later approval as evidence that censorship shapes production through indirection and anticipatory self-limitation, not only through outright prohibition.¹¹

Awards

At the 34th Golden Rooster Awards (2021), Fan Wei won best supporting actor and Tao Jing won best sound, with nominations for best art direction and, at the same ceremony's predecessor stage, the film itself. The film had been nominated for the Golden Bear at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival (2019). At the 15th Asian Film Awards (2021), Liu Haocun won best new performer and Zhang Yimou won best director, with nominations for best film, best actor (Zhang Yi), and best original music.¹

References

1. 一秒钟 详细资料, 1905电影网
2. One Second, Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film
3. One Second (2020) critics reviews, MUBI
4. Zhang Yimou's Toronto closer 'One Second' sells to Neon, Screen Daily
5. One Second movie review, South China Morning Post
6. One Second | Zhang Yimou, In Review Online
7. One Second, Rotten Tomatoes
8. Cut by a Minute, Zhang Yimou Film 'One Second' Secures China Release, Sixth Tone
9. One Second, Film Review Daily
10. Master's Return, The World of Chinese
11. One-Second Memory: The Cultural Revolution, Censorship, and Cinema in Zhang Yimou's One Second, Journal of Chinese Research

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › Historical dramas and epics › Titles M to Z › Titles M to Sa

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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