Zhang Yimou, one of Chinese cinema's most recognized directors, turns his camera toward a remote farming community for One Second, a 2020 Drama and Historical feature built around an unlikely bond between two strangers.
What is One Second about?
The story is set far from any city, in a stretch of farmland where routine rarely breaks. A man devoted to the movies crosses paths with a woman who has no home of her own, and the film follows the cautious, uneven friendship that forms between them. Rather than building toward a single dramatic turn, Zhang Yimou lingers on small exchanges and shared silences, letting the setting itself carry weight: dust roads, sparse rooms, and a community that notices strangers quickly. The 2020 release places the film among a run of Chinese productions that turned toward rural memory and hardship rather than city life, and its pairing of Drama with Historical framing suggests a story more interested in atmosphere and character than incident. Liu Haocun and Zhang Yi lead an ensemble rounded out by Fan Wei, Yu Ailei, Shaobo Zhang, Li Xiaochuan, Cao Rui and Ziyue Tang, together sketching a community shaped by scarcity, habit, and quiet resilience.
About the cast
Liu Haocun and Zhang Yi anchor the film, with Fan Wei, Yu Ailei, Shaobo Zhang, Li Xiaochuan, Cao Rui and Ziyue Tang rounding out the ensemble. The cast leans on restrained, observational performances that suit a story built around gesture and glance rather than confrontation, matching the rural stillness at the center of the film.
Context & significance
Zhang Yimou has moved across decades between sweeping historical epics and smaller, quieter dramas, and this 104-minute feature sits firmly in the latter category. Its production credit spans China and Hong Kong, reflecting a co-production that draws on talent from both film industries. Arriving in 2020, it belongs to a period when Chinese filmmakers increasingly pointed their cameras at overlooked corners of the countryside, favoring patience and detail over spectacle, a tendency the Historical genre tag here reinforces.
Watching One Second on Ktime
One Second streams on K-Time with a free account login, no separate purchase required to start watching. The film is available with both Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, so viewers can follow its quieter, dialogue-light stretches either way. K-Time's Farsi-first interface makes it easy for the Iranian diaspora to browse Drama and Historical titles like this one and pick up a story rooted in rural China from wherever they are.