Director: Wei Shujun

Stars: Yilong Zhu, Chloe Maayan, Tianlai Hou

Adapted from Yu Hua’s novella ‘Mistakes by the River’ director-cowriter Wei Shujun’s 90s-set film is a neo noir that spins off into intriguing directions. It begins with a Hitchcock-style murderer’s eye view shot of their first victim, a woman standing by the river. The excellent Yilong Zhu is Ma Zhe, an idealistic police detective charged with investigating the murder, the first of several, in the small riverside town of Banpo. The woman was a recluse who had taken a local character known only as ‘the madman’ under her wing, making him the prime suspect. He proves frustratingly, eerily elusive. During his investigation Ma Zhe also encounters a local hairdresser with a secret and uncovers an unlikely romance. This exposure to the underbelly of the town takes its toll on Zhe’s mind, unnervingly reflected in various hallucinatory sequences. His domestic life provides no respite: his wife Chloe (Maayan) is pregnant, and the baby, a curt doctor blithely informs the couple, has a genetic defect that may lead to mental problems. Despite a sombre tone, established at the outset with a Camus quote, the picture also features moments of humour and satirical swipes at a transitory time in Chinese history. Zhe’s superior values hasty closure and playing ping pong over getting to the truth, while the junior officers are more interested in messing about and flirting. Cinematographer Chengma Zhiyuan’s gloomy rendering of the goings-on underlines the murkiness at the heart of small town life.

David Willoughby

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