A police detective begins to question if there is more to a series of
"solved" murders than meets the eye.
Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Wei Shujun
Starring: Zhu Yilong, Chloe Maayan, Hou Tianlai, Tong Linkai
1990s media was obsessed with serial killers. Movies, TV shows and novels
of the era were filled with dogged investigators tracking elusive
murderers, an obsession likely sparked by the emergence of DNA tracing at
the beginning of the decade, which revealed that many hitherto unsolved
murders might actually be the work of lone killers. Filmmakers, TV
showrunners and novelists used the premise of the hunt for a serial killer
to tap into the angst that was in the air as an uncertain new millennium
loomed on the horizon. Arriving within weeks of one another in the summer
of 2024 are two '90s set thrillers that channel this angst, the American
horror hit Longlegs and director Wei Shujun's thriller Only the River Flows.
Set in 1995, the angst channelled in Shujun's film is of a specifically
Chinese variety. The Tiananmen Square uprising may have been quashed,
but many Chinese citizens still harbour mistrust in their government. The
economic boom to come seems a long way off. Bureaucracy rules the land,
and what's most important is that you please your superiors, even if you
don't respect or agree with them.
That's the position the film's protagonist, detective Ma Zhe (Zhu Yilong), finds himself in. He's assigned to a murder investigation that his
boss wants to get wrapped up as quickly as possible to keep his own
superiors happy. It's a dynamic we've seen in countless movies where
maverick cops give their chiefs ulcers with their dogged determination,
but here it's tied directly to '90s communist China's obsession with
keeping up appearances.
When an elderly woman is bludgeoned to death by a river, the evidence
points to the guilt of a local mentally challenged man, Xie (Tong Linkai), who becomes cruelly known simply as "the madman." Zhe's boss
congratulates him on getting the case solved, but Zhe isn't convinced of
Xie's guilt. A handbag is found at the crime scene, containing a cassette
upon which is recorded romantic messages from a woman to her lover.
Following this lead, Zhe uncovers various suspects, and further murders
follow, along with suicides and fake confessions.
The concept of a seemingly peaceful small town harbouring secrets was
popular in the '90s, thanks chiefly to Twin Peaks, and has become something of a cliché in the decades since. Shujun
offers a new take on this idea by tying it into the notion of leading a
double life under an authoritarian regime. The small town secrets
uncovered here aren't of a sinister variety but rather of people living
their true lives in the shadows, whether they be crossdressing men or
adulterers, but the shame of being exposed in a society as stifling as
'90s China leads to extreme actions.
As is usually the case with the protagonists of such films, Zhe's work
begins to get into his head, wonderfully represented here with surreal
nightmare sequences that gradually begin to blur with reality. By the
film's final act we're unsure if we can trust that what we're seeing is
real or figments of Zhe's increasingly fractured psyche. Tellingly, Zhe's
police station is housed in an abandoned cinema, and he spends much time
sitting in front of a now disused screen. We're forced to wonder if Zhe's
suspicions regarding the case are founded on watching too many
movies.
The atmosphere of uncertainty is further compounded by Zhe's fears around
the unborn child his wife Bai (Chloe Maayan) refuses to abort
despite being told there's a chance it may be born with intellectual
disabilities. The news is dispensed to Zhe and Bai in the coldest fashion
by a doctor who presumably expects them to opt for abortion, given China's
one-child rule. Zhe begins to treat Bai with cruelty himself, even
flushing a piece of the massive jigsaw she's constantly seen labouring
over down the toilet. Zhe's desperation to believe Xie is innocent becomes
interconnected with his fears for his own son. The film closes on a
flash-forward of Zhe's newborn boy, and we're forced to wonder if the
child will be a future scapegoat for some boot-licking bureaucrat.
Only the River Flows is on UK/ROI
VOD now.
