Crosscurrent

Director: Chao Yang

2016 / 116min / DCP

Gorgeously lensed by frequent Hou Hsiao-hsien collaborator Mark Lee Ping-bing, Yang’s film is a beguiling docufiction meditation on life on and along the shores of the Yangtze River, in which Wang Hongwei joins a cast that includes Qin Hao as a cargo ship captain and Xin Zhilei as the mysterious woman who keeps showing up at his every port of call. A lushly romantic and lyrical work, something like a cinematic journey through the history of Chinese culture.