Crosscurrent (2016): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2016, Crosscurrent is a fantasy, drama and romance film directed by Yang Chao, running about 116 minutes.

What it’s about. Mysterious, sublime and elegiac, director Yang Chao’s odyssey blends breathtaking images with fantasy, poetry and history to create a complex magical universe. From the Shanghai metropolis to the snow-capped Tibet mountain, Gao Chun steers his cargo up the Yangtze, a river that has nurtured a centuries-old civilization. He comes across An Lu, a beautiful woman who appears in a different identity at every port recorded by a poetry book. Longing for her company, he realizes she gradually turns younger as he journeys upstream. He starts to wonder whether An Lu is supernatural or he is traveling not only in space but also in time. After passing a pagoda that reverberates Buddha’s voice, a flooded town reappeared elsewhere, the grandiose Three Gorges Dam and many other places where lives have been transformed, he finally arrives at the start of the Yangtze, where he unveils the secret of his past and An Lu.

Who’s in it. Crosscurrent stars Qin Hao as Gao Chun, Xin Zhilei as An Lu, Wu Lipeng as Wu Sheng and Wang Hongwei.

How it landed. With an audience score of 6.3/10, Crosscurrent has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. In US you can stream it on Philo, YouTube TV, Fandor Amazon Channel and Cineverse Amazon Channel and rent or buy it from Amazon Video. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Crosscurrent page.

If you liked it. Fans of Crosscurrent tend to enjoy The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Green Mile, Spirited Away and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.