China’s Zhang Yimou is a giant of international cinema. His many films, including “Raise the Red Lantern”, “House of Flying Daggers”, and “Shadow” have cemented his place in history. With “One Second”, he offers a powerful reminder of why film matters. A touching drama set against striking desert landscapes and marked by Zhang’s characteristic flashes of humour, this is a fable about how cinema can inspire us.

Towards the end of the Cultural Revolution, when movies were one of the few cultural experiences available to China’s masses, the film’s nameless hero (Zhang Yi) is sent to a remote labour camp for taking part in a fight. He escapes, but instead of returning to crime, his one aim is to see a screening of a newsreel where his daughter has been captured briefly on screen, immortalized as a model student and worker.

“One Second” marks Zhang’s return to the classic, grand storytelling of his early films.