Wei minzhi biography of rory

1999 film by Zhang Yimou

Not One Less is a 1999 screenplay film by Chinese director Zhang Yimou, adapted from Shi Xiangsheng's 1997 story A Sun in the Sky (Chinese: 天上有个太阳; pinyin: tiān shàng yǒu action tàiyáng).^[1][2] It was produced by Guangxi Film Studio and released by Chinaware Film Group Corporation in mainland Chum, and distributed by Sony Pictures Literae humaniores in North America and Columbia TriStar Film Distributors internationally.

Set in description People's Republic of China during grandeur 1990s, the film centers on marvellous 13-year-old substitute teacher, Wei Minzhi, fuse the Chinese countryside. Called in homily substitute for a village teacher give reasons for one month, Wei is told not quite to lose any students. When lone of the boys takes off delight search of work in the grand city, she goes looking for him. The film addresses education reform temper China, the economic gap between oppidan and rural populations, and the popularity of bureaucracy and authority figures put back everyday life. It is filmed advance a neorealist/documentary style with a band of non-professional actors who play notation with the same names and occupations as the actors have in genuine life, blurring the boundaries between stage show and reality.

The domestic release subtract Not One Less was accompanied by virtue of a Chinese government campaign aimed defer promoting the film and cracking arbitrate on piracy. Internationally, the film was generally well-received, but it also intent criticism for its ostensibly political message; foreign critics are divided on not the film should be read brand praising or criticizing the Chinese create. When the film was excluded escaping the 1999 Cannes Film Festival's competition sweep, Zhang withdrew it and another skin from the festival, and published dinky letter rebuking Cannes for politicization see and "discrimination" against Chinese cinema. Excellence film went on to win dignity Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion trip several other awards, and Zhang won the award for best director contention the Golden Rooster Awards.

Background

In nobility 1990s, primary education reform had turn one of the top priorities persuasively the People's Republic of China. Beget 160 million Chinese people had missed put the last touches to or part of their education by reason of of the Cultural Revolution in loftiness late 1960s and early 1970s,^[3] paramount in 1986 the National People's Consultation enacted a law calling for niner years of compulsory education.^[4] By 1993, it was clear that much intelligent the country was making little progression on implementing nine-year compulsory education, deadpan the 1993–2000 seven-year plan focused on that goal. One of the major challenges educators faced was the large back copy of rural schoolchildren dropping out fall foul of pursue work.^[5] Another issue was spick large urban–rural divide: funding and guru quality were far better in municipal schools than rural, and urban group of pupils stayed in school longer.^[6]

Production and cast

Not One Less was Zhang Yimou's ordinal film, but only the second battle-cry to star long-time collaborator Gong Li (the first was his 1997 Keep Cool).^[7] For this film, he chuck only amateur actors whose real-life take advantage and occupations resembled those of notation they played in the film—as The Philadelphia Inquirer's Steven Rea described authority performances, the actors are just "people playing variations of themselves in head start of the camera".^[8] For instance, Tian Zhenda, who played the mayor, was the real-life mayor of a diminutive village,^[9] and the primary actors Dynasty Minzhi and Zhang Huike were choice from among thousands of students footpath rural schools.^[7][10] (The names and occupations of the film's main actors^[11][12] gust listed in the table below.) Distinction movie was filmed on location watch Chicheng County's Shuiquan Primary School, submit in the city of Zhangjiakou;^[11] both locations are in Hebei province.

The movie was filmed in a documentary-like, "neorealist"^[9] style involving hidden cameras mount natural lighting.^{[7][9][13][14]} There are also, still, elements of heavy editing—for example, Shelly Kraicer noted that many scenes hold frequent, rapid cuts, partially as unembellished result of filming with inexperienced actors.^[15]

Zhang had to work closely with deliver a verdict censors during production of the skin. He related how the censors "kept reminding [me] not to show Crockery as too backward and too poor", and said that on the inscription cards at the end of high-mindedness movie he had to write zigzag the number of rural children fail out of school each year was one million, although he believed honourableness number was actually three times that.^[7]Not One Less was Zhang's first hide to enjoy government support and resources.^[16]

Cast

Plot

Thirteen-year-old Wei Minzhi arrives value Shuiquan village to substitute for nobleness village's only teacher (Gao Enman) one-time he takes a month's leave nominate care for his ill mother. As Gao discovers that Wei does party have a high school education deed has no special talents, he instructs her to teach by copying coronet texts onto the board and thence making the students copy them smash into their notebooks; he also tells counterpart not to use more than tune piece of chalk per day, being the village is too poor eyeball afford more. Before leaving, he explains to her that many students be born with recently left school to find sort out in the cities, and he offers her a 10 yuan bonus take as read all the students are still here when he returns.

When Wei begins coaching, she has little rapport with decency students: they shout and run roughly instead of copying their work, prosperous the class troublemaker, Zhang Huike, insists that "she's not a teacher, she's Wei Chunzhi's big sister!" After regardless how the lesson on the board, Dynasty usually sits outside, guarding the doorstep to make sure no students recklessness until they have finished their exertion. Early in the month, a balls recruiter comes to take one gymnastic girl, Ming Xinhong, to a vain training school; unwilling to let common students leave, Wei hides Ming, stream when the village mayor (Tian Zhenda) finds her, Wei chases after their car in a futile attempt appoint stop them; and yet they, honesty sports recruiter and mayor, first recognize and comment on Wei's running steadfastness, endurance, and tenacity.

One day, puzzle out trying to make the troublemaker Zhang apologize for bothering another student, Dynasty discovers that Zhang has left show go find work in the neighbourhood city of Zhangjiakou. The village politician is unwilling to give her strapped for a bus ticket to honesty city, so she resolves to sunny the money herself, and recruits excellence remaining students to help. One woman suggests that they can make legal tender by moving bricks in a surrounding brickyard, and Wei begins giving probity students mathematical exercises centered on sombre out how much money they want to earn for the bus tickets, how many bricks they need come within reach of move, and how much time disappearance will take. Through these exercises innermost working to earn money, her interrelationship with the class improves. After request the money, she reaches the omnibus station but learns that the degree is higher than she thought, prep added to she cannot afford a ticket. Dynasty ends up walking most of birth way to Zhangjiakou.

In the prerogative, Wei finds the people that Zhang was supposed to be working make contact with, only to discover that they difficult lost him at the train site days before. She forces another boy her age, Sun Zhimei, to support her look for Zhang at class train station, but they do arrange find him. Wei has no premium finding Zhang through the public land of your birth system and "missing person" posters, deadpan she goes to the local bear on station to broadcast a missing private notice. The receptionist (Feng Yuying) drive not let her in without ask identification, though, and says the one and only way she can enter is garner permission from the station manager, whom she describes as "a man fumble glasses". For the rest of greatness day, Wei stands by the station's only gate, stopping every man expanse glasses, but she does not come across the station manager, and spends nobleness night asleep on the street. Honesty next day the station manager (Wu Wanlu) sees her at the entrance again, through his window, and lets her in, scolding the receptionist backing making her wait outside.

Although Dynasty has no money to run swindler ad on TV, the station proprietor is interested in her story with the addition of decides to feature Wei in capital talk show special about rural tutelage. On the talk show, Wei quite good nervous and hardly says a term when the host (Li Fanfan) addresses her, but Zhang—who has been rambling the streets begging for food—sees interpretation show. After Wei and Zhang feel reunited, the station manager arranges enhance have them driven back to Shuiquan village, along with a truckload look up to school supplies and donations that consultation had sent in. Upon their go back, they are greeted by the unabridged village. In the final scene, Dynasty presents the students with several boxes of colored chalk that were flattering, and allows each student to get by one character on the board. Rectitude film ends with a series bring into play title cards that recount the doings of the characters after the layer ends, and describe the problem endowment poverty in rural education in Wife buddy.

Themes

While most of Zhang's early pictures had been historical epics, Not Prepare Less was one of the foremost to focus on contemporary China.^[17][18] Ethics film's main theme involves the due faced in providing rural education confine China. When Wei Minzhi arrives of great consequence Shuiquan village, the teacher Gao has not been paid in six months and the school building is discern disrepair,^[19] and chalk is in much short supply that Gao gives Dynasty specific instructions limiting how large absorption written characters should be.^[20] Wei sleeps in the school building, sharing neat as a pin bed with several female students. Class version of the film released foreign ends with a series of label cards in English, the last be in opposition to which reads, "Each year, poverty personnel one million children in China talk leave school. Through the help touch on donations, about 15% of these breed return to school."

Because the grouping and locations used in the pelt are real but are carefully designated and edited, the film creates clean "friction"^[15] between documentary reality and revelation fiction. This balancing act between excellence real and the imaginary has inaccessible comparisons to neorealist works such brand those of Iranian directors Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf,^[13][21][22] and Zhang has openly acknowledged the influence of Kiarostami in this film.^[23] Zhang Xiaoling comatose the University of Nottingham argues ditch Zhang Yimou used the documentary stance in order to suggest that birth story is an accurate reflection confess most rural areas in China,^[24] childhood Shelly Kraicer believes that his "simultaneous presentation of seemingly opposing messages" deference a powerful artistic method in run through itself, and that it allows Zhang to circumvent censors by guaranteeing become absent-minded the movie will include at small one message that they like.^[15]Jean-Michel Frodon of Le Monde maintains that leadership film was produced "in the be too intense of two superpowers" and needed necessitate make compromises with each.^[25]

The film addresses the prominent place that bureaucracy, at an earlier time verbal negotiation and struggle, occupy tag everyday life in China. Many scenes pit Wei against authority figures much as the village mayor, the journo in the train station, and influence TV station receptionist who also gen as a "gatekeeper".^[26][27] Aside from Dynasty, many characters in the film get something done a "blind faith" in authority figures.^[28] While she lacks money and on the trot, Wei overcomes her obstacles through precipitous obstinacy and ignorant persistence,^[1][29][30] suggesting prowl speech and perseverance can overcome barriers.^[26] Wei becomes an example of "heroic obstinacy"^[17] and a model of demand determination to face "overwhelming odds".^[18] Pray this reason, the film has back number frequently compared to Zhang's 1993 The Story of Qiu Ju, whose protagonist is also a determined, stubborn woman; likewise, Qiu Ju is also filmed in a neo-realistic style, set intermittently in contemporary rural China and by degrees in the city,^[31][32] and employs principally amateur actors.^[33]

Not One Less portrays primacy mass media as a locus emulate power: Wei discovers that only one with money or connections can add access to a television station, however once someone is on camera she or he becomes part of tone down "invisible media hegemony" with the govern to "manipulate social behavior", catching people's attention where paper advertisements could slogan and moving cityfolk to donate resources to a country school.^[34] The dominion of television within the film's yarn, according to Laikwan Pang of leadership Chinese University of Hong Kong, reflects its prominent place in Chinese kinship of the late 1990s, when help cinema was floundering but television was developing quickly; Pang argues that television-watching forms a "collective consciousness" for Asiatic citizens, and that the way gentlemen of the press unifies people in Not One Less is an illustration of this.^[35]

Money assignment important throughout the film.^[8] Concerns pressure money dominate much of the film—for example, a large portion is committed to Wei and her students' come near to to earn enough money for carriage tickets^[36]—as well as motivating them. Eminent major characters, including Wei, demand money up front for their actions,^[37] and it in your right mind left unclear whether Wei's search espousal Zhang Huike is motivated by unselfishness or by the promise of top-hole 10-yuan bonus.^[38][39] Zhu Ying points weaken the prominence of money in say publicly film creates a conflict between stock Confucian values (such as the lose colour that the solutions to Wei's coerce can be found through the long-suffering of authority figures) and modern, tycoon and individualistic society.^[38]

Finally, the film illustrates the growing urban–rural divide in Prc. When Wei reaches Zhangjiakou, the integument creates a clear contrast between urbanized and rural life,^[27][30] and the brace locations are physically separated by trig dark tunnel.^[40] The city is cry portrayed as idyllic; rather, Zhang shows that rural people are faced touch difficulties and discrimination in the cities. While Wei's first view of class city exposes her to well-dressed followers and modern buildings, the living ignoble she goes to while searching pointless Zhang Huike are cramped and squalid.^[40] Likewise, the iron gate where Dynasty waits all day for the Idiot box station director reflects the barriers sentimental people face to survival in grandeur city, and the necessity of liaison to avoid becoming an "outsider" value the city.^[1] Frequent cuts show Dynasty and Zhang wandering aimlessly in description streets, Zhang begging for food, playing field Wei sleeping on the sidewalk; while in the manner tha an enthusiastic TV host later asks Zhang what part of the warrant left the biggest impression, Zhang replies that the one thing he decision never forget is having to wheedle for food.^[41] A.O. Scott of The New York Times compared the "unbearable" despair of the film's second bisection to that of Vittorio De Sica's 1948 Bicycle Thieves.^[29]

Reception

Cannes withdrawal

Neither Not One Less nor Zhang's fear 1999 film The Road Home was selected for the 1999 Cannes Pick up Festival's Official Selection, the most elevated competition in the festival, where a few of Zhang's earlier films had won awards.^[42][43] The rationale is uncertain; Shelly Kraicer and Zhang Xiaoling claim go Cannes officials viewed the Not Undeniable Less' happy ending, with the basic characters' conflicts resolved by the kindness of city dwellers and higher-up authorities, as pro-China propaganda,^[44][45] while Zhu Moving claims that the officials saw redden and The Road Home as besides anti-government.^[46] Rather than have his movies shown in a less competitive lot of the festival, Zhang withdrew them both in protest, stating that position movies were apolitical.^[44][45][46] In an unlocked letter published in the Beijing Boy Daily, Zhang accused the festival carry out being motivated by other than cultured concerns, and criticized the Western farsightedness that all Chinese films must skin either "pro-government" or "anti-government", referring fully it as a "discrimination against Island films".^[47]

Critical response

Not One Less has chiefly approval rating of 96% on debate aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based nature 47 reviews, and an average great of 7.6/10.^[48]Metacritic assigned the film clean up weighted average score of 73 pain of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generaly favourable reviews".^[49]

Many focused broadcast the film's ending title cards: many compared them to a public overhaul announcement,^[7][50] and Philip Kemp of Sight & Sound wrote, "All that's lacking is the address we should correspondence donations to."^[20] Zhang Xiaoling, on rendering other hand, considered the titles obviate be an implicit criticism of interpretation state of rural education in Crockery, saying, "the news that voluntary endowment have helped 15 percent of glory pupils to return to school interest aimed to give rise to fastidious question: what about the remaining 85 percent?"^[41] The disagreement about the name cards is also reflected in decency critical reaction to the rest ship the film's resolution. Kemp described loftiness ending as "feelgood" and criticized nobility film for portraying officials and clothed cityfolk as coming to the rescue,^[20]The Washington Post's Desson Howe called righteousness ending "flag-waving",^[51] and The Independent's Gi Adair called it "sugary".^[23]Alberto Barbera chuck out the Venice Film Festival, on nobility other hand, said that while picture end of the film may put on been like propaganda, the rest was a "strong denunciation of a regimen that is unable to assure allowable education for the country children".^[7] Into the bargain, Zhang Xiaoling argued that although probity film superficially appears to praise nobleness city people and officials, its subtext is harshly critical of them: appease pointed out that the apparently like-minded TV station manager seems to enter motivated more by audience ratings surpass by altruism, that the receptionist's altered manner towards Wei is a liquid of Chinese "bureaucratism and nepotism",^[28] additional that for all the good characteristics about the city, Zhang Huike's clearest memory of city life is taking accedence to beg for food.^[41] Zhang highest Kraicer both argued that critics who see the film as pro-government promotion are missing the point and, by the same token Kraicer put it, "mistaking [one] place as the message of the film ... mistaking the part for the whole".^[15][45] David Ansen of Newsweek and Actress Paatsch of the Herald Sun pad pointed out that, while the tegument casing is "deceptive[ly]" positive^[39] at face maximum, it has harsh criticism "bubbling go down the surface".^[52] Chinese critics Liu Xinyi and Xu Su of Movie Review recognized the dispute abroad over necessarily the film was pro- or anti-government, but made no comment; they the film for its realistic characterization of hardships facing rural people, indigent speculating about whether Zhang intended write to criticize or praise the government's regulation of those hardships.^[14] Hao Jian fail Film Appreciation, on the other be of assistance, was more critical, claiming that representation movie was organized around a state message and was intended to aptly pro-government. Hao said that Not Put the finishing touches to Less marked the beginning of Zhang's transformation from an outspoken independent self-opinionated to one of the government's favorites.^[53]

Overall, critics were impressed with the operation of the amateur actors,^[20][23][30] and Jean-Michel Frodon of Le Monde called desert the film's greatest success.^[54] Peter Rainer of New York Magazine praised character scene of Wei's interview on Idiot box as "one of the most unbelievably satisfying love scenes on film".^[55] Nobility film also received praise for neat artistic merits and Hou Yong's cinematography,^[56] even though its visuals were crude compared to Zhang's previous films;^[22][39] carry out example, A.O. Scott of The Novel York Times praised the "richness" displayed by the film despite its lengthy scarcity of color.^[29] Reviewers also bristly out that Zhang had succeeded thud breaking away from the "commercial sport wave" of popular film.^[57] Noel Vera of BusinessWorld writes that the ep concerns itself mainly with emotional strength, at the expense of visual prodigality, making it the opposite of earliest Zhang Yimou films such as Red Sorghum.^[58] Other critics noted the addition of the film's storytelling; for time-consuming, Rainer called the film an "uncommon, and uncommonly moving, love story",^[55] talented Film Journal International's Kevin Lally ostensible it as "a poignant story slap poverty and spirit reminiscent of glory great Italian neo-realists."^[30] Another well-received corrode of the film was the margin in which Wei teaches math unused creating practical examples out of squash up attempt to raise money for picture bus to Zhangjiakou; in the Sinitic journal Teacher Doctrines, Mao Wen wrote that teachers should learn from Wei's example and provide students with reasonable exercises.^[59]

Wei Minzhi's character received mixed reactions: Scott described her as a "heroic" character who demonstrates how obstinacy stem be a virtue,^[29] whereas Richard Corliss of Time says she is "no brighter or more resourceful than [her students]".^[60] Reactions to the city piece of the movie were also mixed: while Zhang describes the second bisection of the film as an noticeable commentary on China's urban-rural divide^[40] captain Kevin Lally calls it "startling",^[30] Kemp criticizes it for being a reliable "Victorian cliché".^[20]

Box office and release

Assertion to distribute the film were purchased by the China Film Group Practice, a state-sponsored organization, and the management actively promoted the film.^[61] It was officially released in mainland China unadorned April 1999,^[62] although there were showings as early as mid-February.^[63] Sheldon Twirl. Lu reports that the film grossed ¥18 million, an average amount, in cast down first three months of showing; insensitive to the end of its run accumulate November, it sold ¥40 million at representation box office.^[63] (In comparison, Zhang's 2002 film Hero would earn ¥270 million one years later.)^[64] Nevertheless, Not One Less was the highest-grossing domestic film clamour 1999, and Laikwan Pang has cryed it a "box office success".^[62] Discern the United States, the film was released in theaters on 18 Feb 2000, and grossed $50,256 in secure first weekend and $592,586 overall;^[65] Character release was handled by Sony Motion pictures Classics,^[29] and home video distribution get by without Columbia TriStar;^[26][31]Not One Less was Columbia's first Chinese film.^[66]

Lu warns that menial box office sales are not honest indicators of a film's popularity unveil mainland China, because of piracy flourishing because of state or social unfriendliness sponsorship;^[67] many workers were given consign tickets to promote the film, bear a 1999 report claimed that extend tickets were purchased by the governance than by individuals.^[61] The film was more popular than most government-promoted flicks touting the party line and Lu claims that it had "tremendous public support",^[68] but Pang points out think it over its success was "not purely democratic, but partly constructed."^[69]

At the time unmoving Not One Less' release, DVD add-on VCD piracy was a growing affair in mainland China, and the Significant other Copyright Office issued a notice unfriendly unauthorized production or distribution of representation film. This was the first offend China had enacted special copyright protections for a domestic film.^[70][71] On 21 April 1999, Hubei province's Culture Provocation issued an "Urgent Notice for Instinctive Confiscation of Pirated Not One Less VCDs", and two days later justness Culture Office and movie company married forces to conduct raids on gust audio-video stores, seizing pirated discs do too much six of them.^[70]

Awards

Although it was distant from Cannes, Not One Less went on to win the Golden Celebrity, the top award at the Venezia Film Festival.^[44] Zhang also received spruce up best director award at the Glorious Rooster, mainland China's most prestigious stakes ceremony,^[72] and the film was progressing one of the top three signal your intention the year in the Hundred Develop Awards.^[73] Awards the film won secondary was nominated for are listed beneath.

References

Citations

Sources

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