Wei Shujun delivers a dark and dreamlike thriller with “Only the river flows”

The Chinese director signs a film with drawers and a philosophical satire which explores the porosity between reality and dreams. “Only the river flow” won the Jury Prize. Poetic.

From the start of the film Only the river flowsJury Prize at 4^e Reims Police Film Festival, Wei Shujun takes a critical look at the relationship between cinema and reality. In the south of China, in what is not quite a city but more of a village, the police commissioner informs Ma Zhe, his main investigator, that he has good news for him: the manager of the local cinema closes the room due to the drastic drop in attendance. “No one goes to the cinema anymore, we’re going to turn it into a cover for investigations.” The head of the criminal police therefore sits in the projection room and his team on the stage.

The places are dusty, abandoned. The country is not yet experiencing the current boom. The buildings are destroyed but new construction is slow. It is in this vague transition that Wei Shujun sets up his story which will end up impacting all the characters.

Dream and reality

It’s 1995, it’s raining continuously in Banpo. The sordid murder of an old lady awakens the invisible wounds of the inhabitants. On site, the police found a handbag. Who is the lady with long hair seen by witnesses? The speculations are getting on edge. After Ripples of Life in 2021, the young Chinese director, who shot the scenes in chronological order and in 16 mm, embarked on a dark, multi-layered thriller.

Only the river flows, adaptation of a short story by Yu Hua, offers several reading levels and deals with various themes. The darling of Cannes, almost all of his short and feature films have been selected on La Croisette, tackle sensitive subjects: otherness, tolerance, alienation, pressure from the hierarchy…

One of the originalities of the film, beyond the aesthetics and the intrigue, is its double narration. We follow the progress of the investigation but also the family life of Inspector Ma Zhe. The two aspects, without being intimately linked, interact as if by a mirror effect. With the corollary of a loss of reference points for Ma Zhe, but also for the public. The boundaries between reality and dreams become porous.

Is this a metaphor between cinema and reality? Led by Chinese star Zhu Yilong, the main character sinks into a form of unreality as the murders pile up and his personal life derails. Only the river flows breaks away from the detective code to explore other avenues. With happiness.

Form

Title : Only the river flows, based on a short story by Yu Hua

LANGUAGES : Chinese subtitled in French

Realization : Wei Shujun

Distribution : Yilong Zhu, Zeng Meihuizi, Tianlai Hou

Duration : 1h42

Gender : thriller, detective

Theatrical release: June 5

Synopsis: In China, in the 1990s, three murders were committed in the small town of Banpo. Ma Zhe, the head of the criminal police, is responsible for solving the case. A handbag abandoned by the river and testimonies from passers-by point to several suspects. As the case stalls, Inspector Ma is confronted with the darkness of the human soul and sinks into doubt…