This intriguing noir was a sizeable indie hit in its native China following a critic-pleasing debut at Cannes.
Ma Zhe (Yilong Zhu) is a world-weary detective investigating a series of murders in rural southern China. The first victim, named locally as Granny Four, is presumed murdered by a mysterious suspect known as Madman (Kang Chunlei).
In common with Jia Zhangke’s nostalgic yearning for older, sturdier communism, Only the River Flows is set in the early 1990s, when older values and analogue tech continue to shape society and a tactile procedural. Zhe poignantly uses an abandoned cinema as unit headquarters. A photograph may contain vital clues. A cassette recording found near the body of the first victim inspires some ingenious detective work.
Persons of interest include a lovelorn poet, his secret girlfriend and a young witness. A local hairdresser (Wang Jianyu) complicates proceedings with a confession. The Madman stays one step ahead of the hard-boiled hero. Zhe’s superior seems more concerned with ping-pong.
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All is not as it seems in this murky thriller evocatively shot by Chengma on 16mm film in slivers of light.
Is the put-upon protagonist losing his mind? There’s some strange business with a certificate of merit he can’t seem to find. His pregnant wife, Bai (Chloe Maayan), refuses to terminate when she is informed that their unborn baby has a genetic condition that may result in intellectual disability.
Improbably adapted from an experimental postmodern novel into a discombobulating genre picture by the director and co-writer Kang Chunlei, this is in similar terrain to Park Chan-Wook’s Decision to Leave, or Bi Gan’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. It’s Asian neonoir with something skulking underneath.
[ ‘I didn’t know anything about noir’: director Wei Shujun on Only the River FlowsOpens in new window ]
A jigsaw puzzle, dream sequences and continuous snatches of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata build towards an uneasy denouement that will leave the viewer guessing and obsessing long after the final credits roll. Yilong Zhu makes for a mesmerising, hardbitten presence – picture a cynical, cherry pie-less Agent Cooper – at the centre of the vortex.
Only the River Flows is in cinemas from Friday, August 16th
