胡克：Persistent Reflection, Artistic Conception: One Second Review

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To Cite This Article:

Hu, Ke. "Persistent Reflection, Artistic Conception: A Review of One Second" Journal of Chinese Film Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, 2022, pp. 207-215. https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2022-0020

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About the Author

胡克

Ke Hu

Ke Hu is a professor and Ph.D. supervisor of School of Theater, Film and Television in Communication University of China. He is a member of China Film Association and China Film Critics Association. His main research field are the theory of films, the development of theories of Chinese and foreign films, and the theory of film script. His major publications include A History Review of Chinese Film Theory. 

胡克，中国传媒大学戏剧影视学院教授、博士生导师、中国电影家协会会员、电影评论学会理事。主要研究领域包括电影理论、中外电影理论发展、电影剧作理论。主要学术著作有《中国电影理论史评》。

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Abstract and Keywords

摘    要:  《一秒钟》的独特之处在于双重表达：一是讲述了在特殊时代一位父亲越狱、寻找并观看女儿影像的事件；二是利用电影这种形式，反思电影与观众的关系，探讨胶片电影的特征，传递了作者对胶片电影恋恋不舍的情怀。影片看似不复杂，实则涵义丰富，意向多元，颇有新意。

关键词：《一秒钟》；张艺谋；元电影；向胶片时代告别；记忆的电影化

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Abstract: The uniqueness of One Second (Yimiaozhong, 2020) lies in its two-fold expression: it first tells the story of a father at an exceptional point in history who breaks out of jail to look for, then view a clip of his daughter. Second, through the form of cinema, it reflects on the relationship between the movie and audience, exploring the particularities of film to convey the auteur’s sentimentality for the medium. This is a simple but innovative film with rich connotations, diverse in its intentions.

Key words:  One Second; Yimou Zhang; metacinema; a farewell to the age of film; the cinematization of memory

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A Glimpse of the Article

01父女关系的变奏

                 Variations on the Father–Daughter Relationship

While much cinema likes to present conflicts through romantic relationships, One Second instead uses a father-daughter relationship as its main thread, attracting fresh attention.

The father-daughter relationship is introduced at the beginning of the film and continues as a thread throughout. At first, the hero and heroine are enemies, in fierce opposition with one another. The hero Zhang Jiusheng risks his life to flee from a labor camp just to watch Newsreel no. 22, because his daughter features in it. The heroine orphan Liu seeks to make a lampshade out of film reel to appease some bullies that badger and threaten her little brother. This renders film the object of a battle, over which they fight multiple times, winning and losing on various occasions. Originally, Zhang wrongly perceives Liu as a boy, and underestimates her as an insignificant enemy. Once he realizes her gender, he begins to pity her. When the two are mistaken as father and daughter, they look at each other with scorn.

电影乐于使用恋爱关系表现冲突，而《一秒钟》却是以父女关系为主线，令人耳目一新。影片开端把父女关系带进叙事，成为贯穿始终的线索。一开始，男女主人公是针锋相对的对手。男主人公张九声冒着生命危险从劳改地逃脱，目的是要赶上《新闻简报 22号》在小镇放映，因为那里有他女儿的画面。女主人公刘闺女是孤女，要用电影胶片做一个灯罩，以赔偿纠缠并威胁弟弟的小流氓。一盘电影胶片成为争夺焦点，双方多次交手，互有胜负。开始，张九声错以为刘闺女是男孩，不免有些轻敌，得知她是女孩后怜悯之情油然而生。当被人误以为他们是父女关系时，他们两人不约而同地露出不屑的神情。

This movie specially uses an imaginary father–daughter relationship to drive the story. The father–daughter relationship remains but with a different daughter. Liu takes on the role of daughter and Zhang pours the love he had for his daughter onto her. Ubiquitous as it is, the father–daughter relationship is never articulated through words; perhaps the love is more compelling when left unspoken.

影片以假想的父女之情展开情节，构思独特。父女关系在延续，女儿身份却隐约转换。刘闺女似乎承担了女儿的作用，张九声把对女儿的爱倾注到她身上。近似父女之情的细节虽然随处可见，却并未有一处直接说出，可谓“不着一字，尽得风流”。

The film does not rely on the set practice of depicting a child dependent on a paternal figure, but rather treats both characters equally. The two share a bitter hatred of enemies, be they hoodlums or violent repressors. Even the way they bid farewell in the end is a means of mutual support: Zhang gets the film lampshade Liu has been dreaming of from “Mr. Movie” Fan, the wrapping paper of which Liu then finds in the desert (she falsely assumes this is an important object to Zhang) and carefully preserves it. This pattern of mutual support is more often used in romantic relationships rather than father-daughter. The film gradually reveals some ambiguous hints to romantic relations; two years later, when they reunite, based on the viewing experience, the audience may expect two lovers rather father and daughter to reunite. Liu thoroughly changes her appearance by swapping her boyish outfits for more feminine attire, and there is a bashfulness in her eyes that points to her experiencing her first love. Zhang develops a graceful bearing once new policies are implemented. When Liu carefully hands over the wrapping paper that she had cherished so much, her crush on Zhang is revealed, the scene reminiscent of My Father and Mother also by Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou uses a similar pattern in his work but ends things abruptly, leaving much to the audience’s imagination. One Second determines a new type of relation between the two sexes, neither a nominal father–daughter kinship, nor a Lolita-esque relationship. Their connection transcends normal friendship as they share a common experience, an equal relationship that alters the basic pattern of romantic films in extraordinary political climates, distinguishing it from predecessors and surpassing itself.

影片并没有直接陷入俗套，描写多是两个人平等相待而不是父女之间的依赖关系。无论是应对小流氓还是暴力对抗保卫组镇压，二人都是同仇敌忾。他们最后的告别方式也是平等互助式的：张九声为她向范电影讨取了梦寐以求的灯罩，刘闺女则在荒漠中找到胶片的包装纸（她不知详情，错以为这对他很重要），将它精心保存。这种互助模式通常在电影中并不用于父女关系，而多出现在恋人之间。影片逐渐渗透出暧昧的两性描写。两年后，他们重聚，观众依据观影经验，或许期待这种父女关系会转变为恋人关系。刘闺女从假小子装扮回归少女装束，如同脱胎换骨，神情也流露出初恋一般的羞涩。张九声落实政策后摇身一变，风度翩翩。刘闺女取出珍藏的包装纸郑重奉上，暗恋情愫呼之欲出，这种场景仿佛是《我的父亲母亲》的再现。

《一秒钟》确立了一种新型的男女关系，可以不认父女干亲，也不发展成老少畸恋。由于这段共同经历，他们的关系也必然超出一般友谊。这种平等关系改变了政治苦难爱情片的基本模式，区隔前辈，也超越了自己。

02 两类电影模式的对照

    A Comparison of Two Modes of Cinema

In One Second, Zhang Yimou carries out a bold experiment. Through simple narration with the help of the film reel, he manages to manifest film culture on various levels, reflect some substantive characteristics of film, and explores the status and social function of films under certain social circumstances. Such an attempt is unprecedented and is a trailblazer for Chinese cinema.

This film leverages meta-cinema to reflect on two working patterns of cinema. First, One Second magnifies the features of collective viewing. Showing a film is not a regular thing in a small town, it only occurs every few months or so. The director focuses the camera on this special moment and elaborately creates a rare scene - a utopia of film.

在《一秒钟》中，张艺谋做了大胆尝试，基于一个简单叙事，借助胶片电影，多层次地表现电影文化，映射出一些关于电影的本质特征，探讨了特定社会条件下电影的地位和社会作用。就中国电影而言，这种尝试前所未见，可谓开一代之先河。

影片运用“元电影”，反思了两种电影的运作模式。首先，影片集中放大了集体观影模式的特征。放映电影并非这个小镇的生活常态，每两个月才会出现一次，编导把镜头对准了这个特殊时段，精心营造出一种独特景观——电影乌托邦。

With no outside comparison, this viewing activity continues with no self-consciousness, but the director forges a personal view of Zhang Jiusheng. Niche films exist to make special demands for that which does not exist in the world of the film. The director has Zhang find a niche film to allude to its fate. The director has Zhang find a niche film to allude to its fate. Individuals may be not interested in this collective viewing, keeping to the personal satisfaction of their own psychological needs and emotional pursuits. This is why niche films exist. These two ways of viewing form a delightful contrast and supplement each other. Zhang Yimou innovatively finds a new path for the creation of metacinema.

如果没有外来者对照，这种集体观赏活动会不知不觉地延续。编导设计了张九声的个人化观影方式。小众电影是为满足特定的需求而存在，在影片事件发生的时期并不存在。编导只是借用张九声要找一段影片，影射出小众电影的命运。个体有可能对集体观影不感兴趣，坚持个人化的欣赏追求，以满足个体独有的心理需要和情感追求。这是小众电影能够存在的依据。这两种观影方式在影片中对照存在，相辅相成，相映成趣。对于元电影的创作，张艺谋独辟蹊径，有所创新。

03 向胶片时代告别

A Farewell to the Age of Film

                          

The uniqueness of One Second lies in its reflection on film reels. It was also produced in an age where modern film techniques are consistently evolving, and media convergence is so advanced. How does one show the desire and respect for movies of people in an isolated and primitive environment? The director uses the film reel as a core tool, conceiving the plot through the particularities and shortcomings of reels, and constructing a site for experimentation on film reels through related scenes in the film.

通过胶片反思电影，《一秒钟》有独到之处。这也是当代电影科技不断更新、融媒体发达才可能引发的构思。如何表现人们在封闭落后环境中对电影的渴求和崇敬？编导将胶片作为核心道具，针对胶片的特点和不足构思情节，将影片相关场景构建成一个胶片电影的实验场，难题于是迎刃而解。

Living in an age of digital film, convergence media, and short video creation through platforms such as Tiktok, modern audiences may take for granted the media of the past. The director presents viewers with the defamiliarizing particularities of film reels as a potential supplement to the main plot. Instead of compromising the basic narrative, this defamiliarization enriches and enlivens the film, highlighting temporal changes and the technological progress, blending in the director’s personal feelings, which forms a distinctive personal style.

身处电影的数字化时代，习惯了融媒体观影，借助抖音等自媒体创作、传播小视频的当代观众，也许认为眼前的一切都是自然而然的。编导将有关胶片的特点陌生化表现，作为一种主体故事情节的潜在辅助，非但没有损害基本叙事，反而增加了作品的厚度和趣味，凸显了时代的变迁、技术的进步，也将作者的个人情怀融入其中，形成了鲜明的个人风格。

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《中国电影研究》

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Persistent Reflection, Artistic Conception: A Review of One Second