One of the most fascinating aspects of Wei Shujun’s film Only the River Flows is the continuing contrast between ... throws a handful of the remaining pieces down the toilet. A few scenes later he is ...

as he listens to a cassette found at the crime scene to try to locate a woman heard on it or questions a hairdresser (Wang Jianyu) who seems eager to be apprehended. But “Only the River Flows ...

A mysterious, unique film-noir throwback with some intriguing meta scenes within it. "Equal parts atmospheric tour-de-force and beguiling puzzler, Only the River Flows is a masterfully styled ode ...

Fittingly, as pure cinema, Only The River Flows is a knockout: eerie and dreamlike. An overture of kids at play is a marvel. Another scene is a dead ringer for gaudy maestro Brian De Palma.

Sometimes who killed whom is beside the point. As it is in “Only the River Flows,” a stylish, introspective, eventually frustrating Chinese procedural directed by Wei Shujun. Based on a book ...