Not One Less

Zhang Yimou, 1999
Aesthetic steps backwards; use a few of the long shots, and a fe close ups, but otherwise dull
Many medium shots that really don’t succeed
It could be argued the film relies on close-up at the conclusion, but too little
Really, the film is a piece of straight=up old fashioned neo-realism, which of course was very special, but can’t just be repeated
Use of disconnected located (one space: school), elliptical narrative, journey theme
A few slow pans, long takes, all very much classic neo-realism of the city
Themes of the country meets the city. Accentuated by clothing/ conformity versus ‘naturalness’
Has similar themes to recent Iranian work (and shares a screenwriter)
And the huge guilt-trip at the end, but this isn’t at all social criticism; everyone’s very good, but just on occasion mistakes are made
A pretty disappointing work as compared to ‘Raise The Red Lantern’
Not a really poor film; some nice details, the neo-realist actions revealing situation is still a superior narrative model, but you’d really be hoping for a bit more