Only The River Flows (15)

China | 2023 | 102’ | 15 | Wei Shujun | Mandarin with English subtitles | Yilong Zhu, Hou Tianlai

In 1990s small town China, a woman's body washes up in the local river. The chief of police, Ma Zhe, is tasked with heading up the investigation. An obvious suspect leads to a hasty arrest, though the mystery lingers in Ma Zhe’s mind. What kind of darkness is truly at play here? Based on Yu Hua’s popular short novel Mistakes by the River, this is a sharp-edged portrait of provincial paranoia with gritty, textured film grain that captures the pulpy proceedings. Torrents of rain envelop the characters as they descend into madness in pursuit of the truth in this atmospheric, beguiling modern noir.