Only the River Flows

Only the River Flows followed police investigator Ma Zhe (Zhu, Yilong Yilong Zhu), in the 90s China, trying to solve a murder case, with an "obvious" yet not so convincing suspect, the victim's adopted son, a man with mental illness. The movie developed into a psychological journey that was deeply intense and hard to resist. Intermingled with Ma Zhe's own life struggles, the psychological journey was painted with layers of unbelievable hues and shades, in contrast to the movie's desaturated color theme and tone. Are you saying it takes a crazy man to get a crazy man, literally?

As a neo-film nior, the movie shared many aspects of this genre. It also has absurdism and realism contrasting and complementing each other, just like the seemingly muted everyday life in the 90s which was actually during the turmoil of some of the biggest changes of China.

Bravo to Wei, Shujun Wei Shujun's cinema work, to the accuracy of a small town in 90s China, and to Zhu, Yilong Yilong Zhu's vivid portraying of a middle aged policeman dealing with madness from every aspects of his life.

In my humble opinion, a very special movie and a must-see.