Only the River Flows

Only the River Flows
Chinese theatrical release poster
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese河边的错误
Traditional Chinese河邊的錯誤
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHébiān de cuòwù
Directed byWei Shujun
Screenplay by
  • Kang Chunlei
  • Wei Shujun
Based onMistakes by the River
by Yu Hua
Produced by
  • Tang Xiaohui
  • Huang Xufeng
  • Li Chan
  • Shen Yang
Starring
CinematographyZhiyuan Chengma
Edited byMattieu Laclau
Production
company
KXKH Film
Distributed byLian Ray Pictures
Release dates
  • May 20, 2023 (2023-05-20) (Cannes)
  • October 21, 2023 (2023-10-21) (China)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageMandarin
Box office$41.4 million

Only the River Flows (simplified Chinese: 河边的错误; traditional Chinese: 河邊的錯誤; pinyin: Hébiān de cuòwù) is a 2023 Chinese neo-noir crime drama film directed by Wei Shujun, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kang Chunlei based on Yu Hua's short novel Mistakes by the River. The film stars Zhu Yilong as a police chief investigating a series of murders in a riverside town in rural China in the 1990s.

The film was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section of the 76th Cannes Film Festival. It was released theatrically in China on October 21, 2023. As of November 7, the total box office of the film is 301 million RMB, placing it among China's highest-grossing independent films.