Rating: 
Summary: Chinese Education
Review: If one looks past the obvious, about the untrained young women trying to teach a class in abject poverty. If you go past the happy ending, and search within. You will find a powerful film, that relates the terrible conditions of education in rural China today. The fact that they did not use professional actors, makes the film even more compelling, as you see China caught in a cultural transition, that it is not sure how to deal with. The scenes from the city with the unemployed peasants, met up with the bureacrats of the systems, show the many problems the Chinese will face in trying to change. It also shows that change is possible.
Rating:
Summary: One less star
Review: Is it okay to say that a movie about a tragic subject is enjoyable to watch? There is an innocent, and naive, sense of adventure in this story, and I laughed and cried. And if the intent of this movie is to present tragedy in a comic way, it deserves more than five stars. But I had one problem with it. When and how did the young substitute teacher, Wei, transform from a lazy, ignorant girl who cared only about making a little money to a resourceful, unstoppable, compassionate woman?
Rating: 
Summary: Not impressed
Review: It is interesting to see a chinese movie depicting life in rural China. The actors were recruited among the locals and it shows. Actng is poor. The film is slow. My 8 and 10 year old children enjoyed the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful film....
Review: It's almost always the case that a director such as Yimou must send a film over here to the States to prove that elegant and yet simple film making still exists. It's almost as if Yimou just turned the camera on the lives of real people, and put microphones on them and just let us in. The result, for me, was a hypnotic curiousity in the lives of people that live in a very different culture and society as me, yet share the human qualities in us all: hope, compassion, love, and so on. While the movie is subtitled, I think many children could understand much of this movie and enjoy it. I think kids could enjoy the movies adventure aspect, especially since children are the main stars here. This is another movie that I hope many people will set aside their reservations, and try something different. It is worth seeking out.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best movies of all time
Review: Like Wu Tianming's "King of Masks", Zhang Yimou's "Not One Less" marks a change from the standard "Chinese history as backdrop" approach of the internationally-oriented art-house movie directors of China's Fifth Generation. Personally, I think this is a change that is well overdue. The weight of history has proved excessive for some of the most famous of the Fifth Generation's work (examples include otherwise completely masterful offerings such as "Farewell My Concubine" and "Red Sorghum"). It's a mark of the creative talent of these directors that they have been able to transcend those fairly obvious roadblocks to understanding. However, it must be said that the traditional Chinese emphasis on story line over characterization has enabled western audiences to hold many of these movies at arms length emotionally. In "Not One Less" Zhang (that's his family name by the way, Yimou is probably a little overfamiliar in a public space) provides a close focus on a single point in time and a single set of characters. It is a moving and well-crafted human portrait of the modern discrepencies between China's interior countryside and the economic dynamos of the coastal belt and the big cities. As the doggedly literal teenage substitute teacher, Wei Minzhi is a wonderful find. Like Zhang Huike, the boy whom she tracks down in the midst of the city of Xi'an, she was chosen from among a group of children who had never acted before. Her performance here is absolutely riveting. This movie deserves 5 points just for its humor and the humanity of its characters. Again, like "King of Masks" it manages to make big points without sacrificing the personalities of the characters and this feature makes it a very significant film. One of the most important features to emerge from modern Chinese cinema in the last few years is the appearance of characters who have an intimate emotional impact on western audiences. Previous offerings have tended towards the heroic or the spectacular: While Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li were perhaps the most obvious choices as cross-over stars, in the end, their abilities to do more than entertain or elicit admiration for their martial arts skills is pretty limited. Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi while undoubedly beautiful and talented seem almost otherwordly and perhaps too readily assimilated into the China-doll category to be truly liberating figures. The situation in Hollywood is even worse of course. Only John Lone is consistently employed in anything approaching starring roles and Joan Chen has not really been able to make a significant impact either. The only recent exceptions were (of course) Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun Fat in Ang Lee's non-Hollywood "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", but even here, most of the hype was centered around the martial arts rather than the phenomenal acting job that they both did. In these days ... it is refreshing and faith-restoring to see depictions of Chinese people that are three dimensional, charming and human. ...just knowing that these movies are around and that I can show them to my students makes me sleep a lot easier at night.
Rating:
Summary: Extra Ordinary
Review: No professional actors, no Hollywood budget, no sex, no violence, no special effects... An extra ordinary film in its purist form. Myself is 34 years-old and it's my all-time favorite movie so far! [My 2nd review on this movie, thanks again if you're reading!]
Rating:
Summary: interesting, but never really took off
Review: Not One Less is a movie about a young (14 year old?) girl who is hired by a small village as a substitute teacher to replace their normal teacher for a month. She is promised a small amount of money plus a bonus if none of her students have dropped out when the real teacher returns. I never really got hooked by this movie. There are a lot of other movies that use locals (non-professional actors) with very effective results, but I didn't really buy into most of the characters in this film for some reason -- seemed kind of one-dimensional... The girl playing the teacher seemed excessively driven by money at the expense of other feelings, which I found odd, but that could be due to her portrayed age or other factors. I've never been to China, but I didn't think this movie gave me that much insight into either a story, or persons involved in such a story in that culture. The cinematography was good, but nothing stood out as a particularly memorable scene, setting, or technique. Subtitles were clear and easy to read at all times. If you haven't already seen it, I'd suggest as an alternative film the "The King of Masks" which is a truely excellent movie on many fronts: storyline, characters, scenes, culture.
Rating:
Summary: Small but Strong
Review: Not one Less is a movie of what 1 person, whether they are the smallest or youngest, can do when they put their mind to it. This movie takes us through the struggle and stress that one has to go through to find what they need. The main character's performance starts off meager, but builds, just as her relationship with the students builds...The score helps get the messages through, and with Zhang Yimou's direction, the film is 10 times better.
Rating:
Summary: One More for Not One Less
Review: Recently I returned from a visit to a rural school in Shanxi Province, in north central China which has much of the same makings as the one depicted in this film. Zhang has once again turned his lense onto an overlooked aspect of Chinese society. This film was well received by Beijing's expat community (judging by the turnout for its English language premiere) and it was no less a success with Chinese audiences, an important consideration. While Zhang is not as highly acclaimed by many of his countrymen (a fact often overlooked in the West), he does produce a believable effort here. It is worth noting that Zhang was accused of somehow toeing the government line when he made this film but that is both wrong and patronizing. Indeed, Zhang was indignant that so many "supporters" in the West (i.e. at the Cannes Film Festival) raised suspicions about his motives that he withdrew it and another fine film, "The Road Home," from the competition. If you aren't one of those Westerners who has succumbed to the simplistic binary thinking of East vs. West, of Good China and Bad China, etc., than get this film. It will touch your heartstrings and pluck them again in years to come.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful......
Review: Simply one word is enough to describe this movie....Beautiful...
Next time you have a coke, remember there are kids in China who may have to move hundreds of bricks to afford it.
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