Not One Less

Theatrical Release Date: 2000 02 18 (USA)

UPC: 043396052758

Studio: Columbia TriStar

MPAA Rating: G   Contains:[Adult Situations, Adult Humor]

Summary: In a village in China mired in poverty, Gao (Gao Enman) is the lone teacher in a school so threadbare he must ration chalk to make sure he has enough for the day. The destitution of the village is not limited to the school; some of the children sleep in the schoolhouse because they have nowhere else to go, and many students have already dropped out to go to work to help feed their families. Gao is forced to leave town for a month, and no one in the village is able to take over for him except a 13-year-old girl, Wei Minzhi (Wei Minzhi), who possesses only the most rudimentary education herself. What she lacks in educational credential, she makes up for in determination -- she needs money, and teaching is an honest job that pays, and since she'll get a 10 yuan bonus if all 28 students are still attending when Gao gets back, she is determined that no one will drop out on her watch. So when one student turns up missing, and word has it he's been sent to the city by his mother to work, she travels to the city to look for him. In a place where thousands of children are working in the underground labor force or begging on the street, one boy hardly stands out from the crowd, and she has little luck. However, she's able to persuade a sympathetic TV station manager to let her make an announcement in hopes someone knows where he has gone. Despite its serious and often grim theme, Yi Ge Dou Bu Neng Shao is often light in tone and draws on the strength and humor of its characters; the film won the Golden Lion at the 1999 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Comedy Drama

Awards: Golden Lion – Venice International Film Festival

Features: Digitally mastered audio and anamorphic video
Widescreen presentation
Audio: Mandarin 2-channel [Dolby Surround]
Subtitles: English
Theatrical trailers
Interactive menus
Scene selections

Not One Less

Format: DVD

Release Date: 08/22/2000

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DDS Dolby Digital Surround

Runtime: 106 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Scene Selections
0. Scene Selections
1. Start [1:40]
2. Wei Minzhi [1:47]
3. The curriculum [6:17]
4. 50 Yuan & Bonus [6:06]
5. "Start class." [2:29]
6. Troublemaker [3:32]
7. Zhang on the loose [1:36]
8. Music lesson [1:18]
9. Ming Xinhong [1:37]
10. Missing student [5:34]
11. Zhang Mingshan's diary [2:21]
12. "Say you're sorry." [1:29]
13. Where Zhang went [3:21]
14. Raising bus fare [4:03]
15. The brick factory [4:54]
16. Thirsty workers [2:00]
17. Math lesson [7:27]
18. Wei in the city [:18]
19. "We lost him." [:50]
20. The train station [2:36]
21. The Message Center [2:30]
22. "Attention, please." [2:46]
23. A notice [3:13]
24. No ID [6:32]
25. The station manager [12:49]
26. "Today in China." [1:38]
27. Mission accomplished [5:52]
28. One character each [3:19]

Jonathan Crow

Director Zhang Yimou gained international success in the early 1990s with such works of studied eroticism and cruelty as Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern, based in part on the presence of the radiantly beautiful Gong Li. After their collaboration ended with his poorly received Shanghai Triad, Zhang stripped down his style and began making messy, vibrant films that recall the finest works of Italian neo-realism. In Not One Less, Zhang fashions a gentle fable that highlights real failings in China's rapidly changing society. With an assidious attention to the details of everyday life and gritty documentary shooting style, Zhang depicts the dust and desperate poverty of Shuiquan Village while infusing the film with humor, whimsy and even heart-felt patroitism. Wei Minzhi -- a Zhang discovery who bares a passing resemblance to Gong Li -- gives a remarkable performance of as the relentlessly stubborn teenaged pedagogue who settles uneasily into her adult role. When she journeys to the big city to find her errant student, we see through her eyes the dizzying realities of the new urban China populated with such foreign accoutrements as Coca-Cola, Sony TVs, and mass media. When both protagonist and pupil are flat broke and sleeping on the streets, the film seems to be veering in the terrority of such grim urban dramas as Pixote, until -- somewhat improbably -- television, and the kindness of the masses, swoop to the aid of young Wei Minzhi and the film's wrongs are righted. What keeps this film from being overly maudlin and nationalistic is both the universalist scope of the film and Zhang's honest portrayal of his characters. A warm, engaging drama and a snapshot of the bifurcated realities of 1990s China, Not One Less is a modest film by a master director. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Li Fanfan  Actor 
Zhang Yimou  Director 
Zhang Weiping  Executive Producer 
Zhao Yunyun  Producer 
Shi Xiangsheng  Screenwriter 
Wei Minzhi  Actor 
Zhang Huike  Actor 
Tian Zhenda  Actor 
Gao Enman  Actor 
Sun Zhimei  Actor 

Country: China