Monday, July 22, 2024

Only the River Flows

Nobody tells provincial police detective Ma Zhe to “round up the usual suspects,” at least not in so many words, but that is clearly what his superiors have in mind. Under a regime like the CCP, this strategy offers cops two benefits. They can rid the regime of someone deemed undesirable and it makes work easy for them. Yet, for some reason, Ma Zhe is perversely determined to do things the hard way on this case—and it definitely makes life hard for him in Wei Shujun’s Only the River Flows, which opens this Friday in New York.

When a lonely granny’s body is found in the river, suspicion automatically falls on the mentally disabled man who often accompanied her. Ever so charmingly, the cops and villagers refer to him as the “Madman.” However, the discovery of a teenaged girl’s purse leads Ma Zhe in a different direction. Then again, the murder of her suspiciously older lover refocuses the local task force back on the Madman.

Intuitively, Ma Zhe doubts the Madman’s guilt. The situation also hits uncomfortably close to home. He and his very pregnant wife Bai Jie soon learn their baby has a ten percent chance of having some sort of developmental disability. Naturally, the clinic strenuously recommends an abortion and he agrees. However, she is determined to deliver their son and deeply resents any suggestions to the contrary.

Although Wei’s adaptation of Yu Hua’s novel, co-written with Chunlei Kang, adopts the style and form of film noir, it de-emphasizes suspense and proceduralism. Instead, it is most effective recreating the social and economic realities of post-Tiananmen 1990s China.

Throughout the film, it is unambiguously clear the police leadership have no real interest in justice. They measure success in police league ping-pong championships and checked boxes in bureaucratic reports. They want Ma Zhe to charge the Madman and be done with it, regardless of the truth.

Again, nobody uses the words “One Child Policy,” but they loom over all Ma Zhe’s discussions with his wife. For him, the risk of having a child disabled in any way is too great a risk. On the other hand, Bai Jie refuses give up a coveted boy, knowing they might not be so “fortunate” with another pregnancy.

For the role of Ma Zhe, Zhu Yilong did vintage Robert De Niro one better. First, he gained weight appropriate to a shlubby cop with bad dietary habits and then he lost the flab as the stress of the investigation took its toll on the honest cop. It is an understated, but enormously gritty performance.

Chloe Maayan also portrays Bai Jie with great vulnerability and sensitivity. Even viewers who do not understand the One Child context will feel the urgency of her protective maternal instincts. However, Kira Wang delivers the most powerful indictment as Xu Liang, a secret cross-dresser, who anticipates being framed for the murders, as a “usual suspect.”

Although fellow critics should be quite judicious when it comes to reviewing Chinese films that carrying the state censor’s “dragon’s seal,”
Only the River Flows obviously snook through the cracks and deserves attention. (Clearly, what went unsaid was important, in this respect.) It captures the grimness of provincial 1990s China in brutal detail, while rigorously depicting official contempt for the law. It is a bold film, but do not expect edge-of-your-seat thrills. Instead, Wei immerses viewers in corruption. Recommended as a potent slow-boiling, socially conscious crime drama, Only the River Flows opens this Friday (7/26) at the Metrograph.