Suzhou River = Su Zhou He [DVD]

The Suzhou River is the backdrop to this haunting tale of obsessive love and mystery set in the not so illustrious part of modern day Shanghai. Told through the eyes and words of a freelance videographer, we follow Mardar (Jia Hongsheng) a motor-cycle courier in his mid-twenties who does his pick-ups and deliveries, no questions asked. However, when Mardar finds himself delivering Moudan (Zhou Xun), the 16 year-old daughter of an alcoholic smuggler, to her aunt, he has no idea what is in store for him. A tender loving relationship soon forms between the two only to be put to the test when Mardar is persuaded by his shady associates to kidnap Moudan and hold her to ransom. Moudan, heartbroken and betrayed, makes her escape vowing to Mardar before jumping off the bridge into the murky depths of the Suzhou River, that she will come back as a mermaid to haunt him. Accused of Moudan’s murder, Mardar spends a few years in prison until his release, when grief-stricken and distraught, he sets out to find his beloved Moudan. When he encounters Meimei (Zhou Xun), a nightclub dancer who performs in an aquarium as a mermaid and who bears a striking resemblance to Moudan, Mardar becomes totally obsessed in the belief that Meimei is his lost love, Moudan. Intricate, mesmerising and visually stunning, Lou Ye pays homage to Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” and Wong Kar Wai’s “Chungking Express” in his treatment of this compelling multi award-winning film. Cinematography by Wang Yu and original music by Jorg Lemberg. (Awards: Paris; Fantasporto; Rotterdam; Viennale)