Only the River Flows

1990s, Banpo Town, rural China. A woman's body is found by the river. Ma Zhe, Chief of the Criminal Police, heads up the murder investigation that leads to an obvious arrest. His superiors hurry to congratulate him, but several clues push Ma Zhe to delve deeper into the hidden behaviour of his fellow citizens.

EXT. WHERE DOES THE RIVER STOP - DAY Only The River Flows is my first Wei Shujun film, and it is now someone I'd like to explore as I adored many elements of this film. First, it's shot on film 😍 which builds a beautiful atmosphere solidified through noir-style lightning and heavy smoking. I'm already on board any time a film noir style is present; Only The River Flows is solid throughout the first 80 minutes of the film, as it's fully engulfed in that crime noir storytelling. A cop hunts down a killer, and when an arrest is made, and the case can be shut, a thought of 'why' lingers on the officer's mind. The plot intrigued me as it flowed into a psychological thriller, sometimes reminding me of Twin Peaks, which is a tremendous compliment. However, there is a literal 'BANG' at the minute 80 mark, and the final 20 minutes start going all over the place. I love where the film went during the final moments, involving a 'Twin Peaks' style dream sequence. However, the last act's apparent lack of cohesiveness ultimately disappoints — pulling my review from a solid four stars into a three. FADE OUT.

"Ma Zhe" (Zhu Yilong) engenders an almost adulatory degree of support from his team as he leads them on an investigation following the discovery of the body of the goose-rearing "Granny Four" on a remote riverside. Suspicion quickly falls on her adopted friend known simply as the "madman", but the detective is not so convinced that things are that straightforward. His ensuing task isn't helped by pressure from his ping-pong playing boss to conclude quickly and by the fact that he and his wife are expecting a baby - and that procedure is not going to be as simple as they might like. With the rain pretty much relentless throughout, he encounters some quirky local characters who seem to muddy the waters rather than offer him clarity. Clarity? Well that's an element to this story that is a bit too sparing at times. "Ma Zhe" finds his troubles gradually getting the better of him - yes, there are more bodies - and soon his own grasp on reality becomes distinctly compromised. Can he keep it together long enough to solve the crime? The film starts with the usual affirmation of the communist values of team play before entering the realms of predictable cop drama tempered with a bit of undercooked psycho-babble that Zhu Yilong tries to hard hold together. By the denouement, though, I felt way too much of the plot was contrived to try to tap into the psyche - of him and us - and it didn't really work. That said, he does well here and we do get quite a tense sense of his gradually becoming overwhelmed by the scenarios that test his usually linear style of working, thinking and living. Sadly, aside from "Ma Zhe", the characters are barely developed and director Wei Shujun seems more interested in focussing on an admittedly gritty and authentic looking peek at 1990s rural China, whilst rather abandoning the detail and characterisation of story to the sidelines as the dream sequences blur more and more the line between reality and fantasy. It does move along well enough, but I found it a bit of a meringue of a film - not much when you get into it.