Film review: Only the River Flows is stained deepest noir with rain and chain-smoking detectives

Only the River Flows stars Yilong Zhu as Captain Ma, who heads up a ‘model team’ of police detectives. Picture: Lian Ray Pictures 

• Only the River Flows 
• ★★★★☆ 
• Cinematic release

Set in a small Chinese town in 1995, Only the River Flows (15A) stars Yilong Zhu as Captain Ma, who heads up a ‘model team’ of police detectives who investigate the apparently motiveless murder of an old woman on a muddy riverbank.

Under pressure from the Chief (Tianlai Hou) to get a quick result, Ma reluctantly agrees that the most likely suspect is the village ‘madman’ who was unofficially adopted by the old woman.

No sooner has Ma reached his conclusion, however, than a host of more plausible suspects emerge, which include a fatalistic young man who seems to crave a guilt that is not his.

With its ceaseless rain, chain-smoking detective and dimly lit, off-kilter camera angles, Wei Shujun’s thriller is stained deepest noir. As with the best noir, of course, the story peels back the background culture as the criminal probe proceeds, shedding light on a place and time where non-conformism is not only a valid reason for suspicion but, suppressed for too long, might well find an outlet in a murderous impulse. 

With Ma struggling to obey illogical orders, the story takes on a Kafkaesque quality that lends itself to a tense, claustrophobic mood as Ma struggles to maintain a logical approach to an investigation that grows increasingly surreal.