Review of “Only the River Flows”: An Ingenious and Intriguing Chinese Noir

Wei Shujun’s new film, which is adapted from a novella by Yu Hua, presents itself as a noir crime story wrapped in existential and philosophical musings. Set in provincial China, the film draws inspiration from Albert Camus’s Caligula: “There’s no understanding fate, therefore I choose to play the part of fate…”. It challenges the genre’s assumptions about the knowability of motive and agency, suggesting that crime is not always committed for clear reasons, nor is it governed by purely rational circumstances. Throughout the movie, chaos and meaninglessness make frequent appearances, reminiscent of a narrative style that David Lynch might employ.

Zhu Yilong stars as Captain Ma, an intelligent and ambitious young officer assigned to solve the gruesome murder of a woman found by a riverbank. In a twist of irony, his superiors choose a disused cinema as their base of operations. The projection room is repurposed for interrogations as more bodies pile up and a secondary suspect takes his own life. Exhausted, Captain Ma dozes off at one point, and his dreams about the murders are projected onto the screen. Subsequent events may blur reality and dreams, adding layers of ambiguity to the narrative.

Before her death, the murdered woman had taken in a man with learning disabilities, disparagingly referred to as the “madman”. Naturally, he becomes the prime suspect. His madness, coupled with his inexplicable ability to escape from a mental hospital, mirrors the bizarre arbitrariness of subsequent murders. While Captain Ma’s superiors are keen to close the case, attributing the killings to the madman’s irrational behavior, Ma remains tormented by the possibility that there is more to the story.

Ma’s personal life adds another layer of stress to the unfolding drama. His wife is pregnant, and the news that their child might have a birth defect, delivered callously by the doctor, weighs heavily on him. The unpredictability and uncontrollability of having a child, an activity that should follow clear cause-and-effect logic, further deepen his existential crisis. Eventually, Captain Ma experiences what his superiors describe as a breakdown, claiming that he has shot the madman dead in a dark alley, an event that remains unconfirmed.

Despite its compelling presentation, there remains a nagging suspicion that a conventionally structured noir, with a clear plot, could offer just as insightful a commentary on the human condition, while also delivering the thrills of a traditional crime story. Nevertheless, Only the River Flows stands as an intriguing and meticulously crafted film, offering a disquieting puzzle with missing pieces that form an unsettling pattern.

• Only the River Flows is in UK and Irish cinemas from 16 August.

Source: The Guardian