SUZHOU RIVER

Name: SUZHOU RIVER
Item: SUZHOU RIVER
Author: Review

“Modern Chinese Nihilism”

Family Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

SUZHOU (“Su-show”) RIVER is a minor, low-budget Chinese mystery about four modern-day lovers whose lives intersect in Shanghai, China. The story is told by one of the men, whose face viewers never really get to see. Instead, the camera often takes the place of his eyes, much like the 946 movie, THE LADY IN THE LAKE, from Raymond Chandler’s detective mystery. In the Chinese movie, the narrator has an affair with a woman playing a mermaid in a water tank at a local nightclub. The woman resembles another woman who, years earlier, was kidnapped by a courier working for gangsters. The kidnapped woman disappeared, and now the courier, finally out of prison, thinks the mermaid performer is the same woman. Viewers are kept in doubt about the truth until about three-fourths through the movie, which ends tragically in a nihilistic fashion.

Most viewers will find the pagan nihilism in this movie ultimately unsatisfying. Although the story’s basic concept is interesting, the trick camerawork does not really work, and the scriptwriting and acting does not match the depth of the story’s obvious symbolism. There are also some sexual situations, foul language and brief nudity in SUZHOU RIVER

Content:

(PaPa, LL, V, S, N, AA, D, MM) Nihilistic pagan worldview; 3 obscenities, 0 profanities & kidnap victim relieves herself on roof; mild film noir violence such as pushing, woman jumps off bridge, implied suicide, & distant images of two or three corpses; implied fornication; rear female nudity; alcohol use & man turns to alcohol for his only remaining comfort; smoking; and, kidnapping, smuggling & suicide.

More Detail:

SUZHOU (“Su-show”) RIVER is a minor, low-budget Chinese mystery thriller about four modern-day lovers whose lives intersect in Shanghai, China. The story is told by one of the men, whose face viewers never really get to see. Instead, the camera often takes the place of his eyes, much like Robert Montgomery’s 1946 movie, THE LADY IN THE LAKE, from Raymond Chandler’s detective mystery. In the Chinese movie, the narrator has an affair with a woman playing a mermaid in a water tank at a local nightclub. The woman resembles another woman who, years earlier, was kidnapped by a courier working for gangsters. The kidnapped woman disappeared, and now the courier, finally out of prison, thinks the mermaid performer is the same woman. Viewers are kept in doubt about the truth until about three-fourths through the movie, which ends tragically in a nihilistic fashion.
Most, if not all, viewers will find the pagan nihilism in this movie ultimately unsatisfying. Although the story’s basic concept is interesting, the trick camerawork does not really work, and the scriptwriting and acting does not match the depth of the story’s obvious symbolism. There are also some sexual situations, foul language and brief nudity in SUZHOU RIVER.