Only the River Flows

Flicks with The Film Snob

Nov 26 2025 | 00:03:30

00:00 / 00:03:30

Show Notes

A detective investigating a series of murders in rural China is confronted with his own instability. “Self-aware cinema” is a nickname, that I just made up, to describe a kind of film that uses its style, genre, and characters to symbolize meanings that go beyond and even subvert the movie’s linear narrative. Well, that definition proves how hard it is to speak clearly about this kind of film. The idea isn’t new, but now it’s become sharper and more prevalent. An interesting recent example is Only the River Flows, from Chinese director Wei Shujun. The story takes place in a…

Other Episodes

Episode

December 25, 2018 • 00:04:36

Roma

The story of a servant for a well-off Mexican family in the 1970s, told through a unique style that lends an epic quality to...

Episode

March 29, 2018 • 3:45

In Between

A daring debut film from Maysaloun Hamoud tells a story of Palestinian women living in Israel and defying conservative norms by choosing to live...

Episode

May 15, 2019 • 00:04:06

High Life

Claire Denis, the French filmmaker, has established her international reputation over three decades as a director of art cinema: social dramas with a vast...