GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

museumofdave Thirteen year old Wei Minzhi's face will haunt you for days after you see this film; as an early teen, she is suddenly thrust into a provincial classroom as a teacher, and early on she chooses to chase after and bring home a lost student. This untried young teacher's stoic quest is the reflection of a brave people who have often had to face near insurmountable odds to achieve an education and upward mobility. Like Wei Menzhi, they do so without complaint, merely by quietly acting, steadily enduring, doing what is right to learn and grow. This is a film about childhood, too, without being drenched in treacle, without sappy cuteness; it demonstrates faith in the human condition, encourages us to be better than we are--and how many films sincerely make that attempt? A wonderful experience that demands patience and understanding from the viewer.

gannett A simple film with a linear narrative which reminds us of the complexity of modern life. Looking into this tale from the urban world reminds us that life is so very different elsewhere.Set in China but the themes could be matched to many places in the developing world. Rural v Urban, Poverty v Prosperity, the contrast is stark. It's a scary place looking for a lost boy in a strange city when you could so easily become lost yourself. The teacher struggles through grasping at one straw after another finally by determination and a bit of luck over achieves her goal.The happy outcome has a moralising whiff, good values will win in the end, unfortunately this tends not to happen so often in the real world.

Andres Salama Somewhat didactic and sentimental, this film from Zhang Yimou is nevertheless irresistible. An unusual foray from Zhang into realistic films, Not One Less tells the tale of a young teenager in a Chinese village who is named as substitute teacher in the local school when the head teacher has to visit his ailing mother. Her skills as a teacher are barely adequate, and her students are just a few years younger than she is, yet she makes up her obvious shortcomings as a teacher with an utmost zeal in accomplishing her mission. Her superior has told her that not one of her students must drop out of school, so when one of the more trouble making boys heads to the big city in order to support his starving family, she has to go there to get him back. The movie is refreshingly sincere in stating that she does not search the boy out of a sense of social concern, but because of money, since she won't receive any bonus if any of her students are missing. The best part of the movie shows the naive teacher trying to find her lost student in the urban jungle of the city. Shot with a wonderful amateur cast, this look at rural China is beguiling.

Jugu Abraham Long after De Sica made "Bicycle thief" and Fellini his "La Strada," neo-realist traditions grab me like no other in cinema history. The Chinese film "Not one less" made half a century after the Italian masterpieces, underlines several aspects of neo-realist traditions—non-actors can transform into great actors provided you have an intelligent script and a talented director, poverty attracts anyone with a conscience, the candid camera is a marvelous tool, and human values exist to be appreciated irrespective of national boundaries. It truly deserved the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival.A reluctant substitute teacher taking on a job that would fetch a doubtful "50 yuan" from a village mayor with questionable priorities transforms into a national hero in less than a month as she strives hard to ensure the number of her students do not dwindle until the regular teacher returns. Her resolutions transforms the economic state of the school, makes her students into socially responsible "young adults" and teaches a lesson to the wily mayor, a gatekeeper in the city TV station who goes by rules rather than by her discretion.The brilliance of the film is that the film hooks the audience as a thriller would until the film ends. Yet there is no sex, no violence, no beautiful face, no delightful music or engaging camera angles—only reactions caught by candid camera (at least most of the time).The most poignant comment was the young student's comment "I loved the city but it made me beg for food" For a contemporary Chinese film made under tight censorship—the film's director Yimou Zhang seems to offer layers of comment beyond the obvious story line. Did Teacher Wei do what she did for the sake of money or as a responsible teacher? Are you likely to forget propagandist songs but recall simple songs on family values? Are individual greatness (teacher Wei) more appreciated than group actions (school as a group, nation's need for good athletes overriding permission of the parents of potential athletes)? Is the richness of rural lifestyles discounted by rising urban materialism? Does it require an individual's actions to underline the demands of the rural poor? These are hidden questions for each viewer to answer.I have only seen one other film of director Yimou Zhang and that is "Red Sorghum". "Not one less" towers over "Red Sorghum" in every department of film-making.I saw this Chinese film on an Indian TV channel. I only wish more such international films get shown widely on TV throughout the world. It would raise the bar of what constitutes good cinema to many who currently have little idea of good cinema except those made in their own countries. Recent mainland Chinese films like "Peacock" and "Not one less" have established their world class credentials.P.S. I was more than amused to find Ford and Coca-Cola financed the film in part, which is probably why the school kids in a remote Chinese village know about Coke and relish rationed drops of the liquid. Who was pulling whose leg here???