Lou Ye’s 2000 “Suzhou River”

Lou Ye was part of the edgy underground movement of “Sixth Generation” filmmakers that focused on social realism and a search for identity during a political and economic shift. With stylistic similarities to Wong Kar Wai and a mind-bending plot comparable to Hitchcock’s Vertigo, Ye’s (b.1965) Suzhou River is a thrilling and tragic love story told in two parts.

Taking place along the banks of the Suzhou River, Mardar (Jia Hongsheng) routinely transports a beautiful young girl named Moudan (Zhou Xun), the daughter of a local criminal, to and from her father’s house. During these trips, he begins to fall in love with her. However, despite his feelings for her, he gets wrapped up in a kidnapping scheme to demand ransom money from her rich father in exchange. The plan goes awry when she escapes and jumps into the river never to be seen again. As a result, Mardar serves a three-year jail sentence for his attempted crime. Upon his release, he meets a woman at a nightclub who looks exactly like her named MeiMei (also played by Zhou Xun). Uncertain if it is her or a lookalike, his memory eludes him by blurring fiction and reality.

When the film was released, it was rejected by China for portraying an unflattering view of the city as dirty and polluted. Its gritty and chaotic depiction of Shanghai contrasted with the often glamorous and futuristic depiction of it in other films. Key to the film’s appeal is the use of a jostling hand-held camera giving it a first-person documentary perspective. Beloved abroad, the film got Ye banned from filmmaking in China for two years after its release at the International Film Festival Rotterdam when it was submitted without prior authorization from Chinese authorities.