Murder is a global language, and the world still loves film noir. Both points are well made in heady Chinese cop opera Only The River Flows, in which the darkness of night is broken only by police torches while shadows outdo the sun. The year is 1995, in a fictional provincial city. Skyscrapers have not yet arrived, but the bulldozers are already here. And the case at the heart of the story falls to chain-smoking police detective Ma Zhe (Zhu Yilong), poring over cassette tapes.
The crime takes place in riverside outskirts: an elderly woman found killed. A hulking loner seems the likely culprit. But guilt this obvious is rarely the whole story. Sure enough, Ma Zhe’s investigation drifts elsewhere. Among neighbours, there are many secrets. Then another body turns up.