EntertainmentMoviesCrime MoviesA new Chinese crime thriller with a fresh Rotten Tomatoes score offers a different take on the detective genreWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
EntertainmentMoviesCrime MoviesA new Chinese crime thriller with a fresh Rotten Tomatoes score offers a different take on the detective genreWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Picturehouse Entertainment)
Only the River Flows, the latest film from Chinese director Wei Shujun, is a different kind of crime thriller. The movie, which premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and competed in Un Certain Regard, takes the detective genre and runs with it – then sets it down, firmly, and forces the audience to look closely at it. Releasing theatrically in China last fall and becoming one of the country’s highest-grossing independent films, the movie is now hitting UK cinemas.
Big Screen SpotlightShining a light on the under-the-radar theatrical releases that you need to know about, with a new article every Friday
Big Screen Spotlight
Shining a light on the under-the-radar theatrical releases that you need to know about, with a new article every Friday
Shining a light on the under-the-radar theatrical releases that you need to know about, with a new article every Friday
Set in a small town in rural China in the mid-’90s, Only the River Flows follows police chief Ma Zhe (Zhu Yilong) as he investigates a series of murders. Zhe is your standard noir cop – he’s good at his job, spends most of his screentime looking increasingly dejected in a leather jacket, and chain-smokes cigarettes non-stop.
The China of Only the River Flows is also typical noir territory, set against a backdrop of grey, gloomy weather and equally gloomy surroundings, filmed in grainy, flickering 16mm. Kids play in a dilapidated apartment building and the police department has just moved its offices to the newly defunct movie theater, recently closed due to lack of use.
Search for meaning
(Image credit: Picturehouse Entertainment)
Against this backdrop, we learn about the murder of a widowed elderly woman, known to the townspeople as ‘Granny Four’, whose body is found one evening on the riverbank. A cassette tape of mysterious messages recorded for an unknown recipient found inside an abandoned handbag at the crime scene propels Zhe down a dogged path in search of the truth, which takes him deeper and deeper into the local community. Every time he thinks he’s made a breakthrough in the case, however, the body count grows, with seemingly no link between victims except their violent demises and the fact they’ve been subject to Zhe’s questioning. When an arrest is finally made, the detective can’t seem to accept that this is how it all ends. But are things more straightforward than they appear?
Big Screen Spotlight(Image credit: A24)Julia Louis-Dreyfus' new A24 dark comedy is a poignant depiction of grief and motherhood
Big Screen Spotlight
(Image credit: A24)Julia Louis-Dreyfus' new A24 dark comedy is a poignant depiction of grief and motherhood
(Image credit: A24)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus' new A24 dark comedy is a poignant depiction of grief and motherhood
Only the River Flows arrives in UK cinemas on August 16. For more on what to watch, check out the rest of ourBig Screen Spotlightseries.
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