Suzhou
River (**1/2)
review by Jon
Waterman
Mardar is a street courier that takes great pride in his work.
He always does his best to keep his deliveries safe. Along
comes Moudan, a young girl thrust upon him as his most precious
cargo. Each day he takes Moudan to her aunt’s house and
so the two build a rapport and just may be falling in love.
However, Mardar’s dedication to his job proves to be
more than Moudan can take as she flings herself off the Suzhou
River’s bridge, exclaiming “Find me if you love
me.” Well, Mardar sets to do just that, all the while
being sought after for the murder of Moudan. Enter Meimei….
As you can see, it’s a pretty intensive plot. And I
didn’t even mention how the film opens by telling the
story of an entirely different couple. The narrator tells the
story drawn out above for the benefit of his girlfriend. And
there’s a kidnapping story within his story. But somehow
it all is able to wrap up neatly in a mere 83 minutes. The
strange part, however, is that those 83 minutes start off pretty
slow.
Until the narrator gets into his story, the film is presented
through his eyes. We’re given nothing but POV shots,
which makes sense considering his character is a videographer.
I for one think that’s just a lame excuse to add a quick
bit of novelty that wears off very fast. These very shaky opening
scenes combined with the flash-framed 16mm non-synch shots
of the boats out on the titular river made it seem like a horrible
student experimental film. I will say that they do a great
job of keeping focus – that couldn’t have been
easy.
Even when you do get into the meat of the film, the camera
work is still pretty damn shaky. Luckily the story makes up
for it. We’re treated to an interesting story that’s
presented in a nice intimate fashion. You can see the dynamics
within their relationship change through the strong performances
of the actors. And the narrator’s voice adds quite a
bit, keeping the excitement going. He acts as if he’s
making it up as he goes along, which greatly aids the interplay
between the romantic story and the crime drama side.
Writer/Director Ye Lou knows how to make his movies interesting,
but the problem is making them memorable. Nothing about this
convoluted (at times) story or even the varied cinematography
tactics really resonated with me. To add to that the film really
does move unbearably slow at first. Lucky for us it gets stronger
and stronger as it rolls along. The ending also turns out very
well. It’s certainly worth a look, but just remember
to give it time. It won’t end up the way you might think.
That’s one of the strengths of this film. It could go
the predictable route several times, but never takes that path.
Instead, like a river, it twists and turns and bends all while
gently flowing in one specific direction.
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