Billed as a Korean production, but essentially a Chinese film, considering that Mandarin is the main language here, the cast and crew are Chinese and the story takes place in Yanjiao, Ma Xue's feature debut tries to reinvigorate the erotic film by implementing a surrealistic, abstract approach.
White River is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam
Yang Fan lives in Yanjiao, which is separated from Beijing by the White River, during the quarantine. Her routine is pretty simple, cooking, cleaning and trying to abide by the rules. Her husband on the other hand, seems to be entangled in a voyeuristic/masturbatory web, where a classic painting of a woman hanging on the wall of her bedroom plays a crucial role. The two of them have sex, but things become more complicated when Yang Fan also starts sleeping with the enigmatic waiter of a restaurant she frequents, who has the tendency to pee under a tree every night after he closes shop. Instead of fighting, the three embark on a threesome trip that soon starts involving other people.
The movie begins with an experimental, art-house, festival-friendly approach, by showing images of a woman alone, frequently on a mobile screen format, while the sounds of quarantine instructions and guidelines, and her outgoing to the market induce the narrative with a documentary-like element. The beginning, however, does establish the voyeuristic approach Ma Xue implemented here while eventually, sex becomes the main element of the film. In that regard, the erotic sequences are many, lengthy and quite steamy, while the fact that the masturbatory tactics mentioned before continue on through most of these, adds a sense of humor to the whole thing.
This sense becomes even more appealing due to the deadpan approach Ma Xue implements here, which gets even more intense when more people become part of the erotic, and due to the husband's overall attitude towards his wife's “dealings” with the waiter. The scenes of the peeing, and the fact that Yang Fan obviously observes the waiter during them is also quite intriguing in its conception and presentation, as it combines the three main elements of the narrative: voyeurism, eroticism, and deadpan humor.
At the same time, and even if the story eventually takes a “love everyone”, hippy turn, there is a sadness permeating the whole concept, as if the protagonists, but particularly Yang Fan are using sex to fill a gap that is impossible to fill, with the scenes with her in the kitchen highlighting the fact quite eloquently. Lastly, a surreal element is also present through the frequent appearances of a young girl talking in English, that could be a younger version of the protagonist.
Ash Chen's cinematography is one of the best aspects of the movie, with him implementing the voyeuristic approach to perfection, both in the erotic scenes and in a number of other instances, such as the aforementioned peeing sequence. The close ups to the sex add much to the titillation the movie offers while the presentation of the always empty restaurant adds a neo-noir, dystopian essence to the movie. Qin Yanan's editing adds to this last sense, with the cuts adding an element of disorientation about what is happening, that also works well for the film.
Yuan Tian stands out in the role of the protagonist, with her laconic performance being both titillating and dramatic on occasion, in perfect resonance with the general aesthetics. Song Ningfeng as the husband is also good as the main source of humor, while Xu Weihao adds a very appealing sense of mystery as the waiter.
“White River” is a rather unusual film, but succeeds both as an art-house/experimental and an erotic film, with Ma Xue emerging as a filmmaker definitely worth following.
