Friday, 15th March 2024

River
Film リバー流れないでよ (River)
Country Japan
Director Junta Yamaguchi
Writer Makoto Ueda
Year 2023
Cast Riko Fujitani, Shiori Kubo, Yuki Torigoe
Details Colour 86 minutes

A remote traditional inn in a sometimes snowy area of Japan becomes trapped in a 2-minute time loop. A film in which nothing yet everything happens. The time loop ripples through the lives on those inside and outside the inn, as they restart every 2 minutes with the memory of what happened before. No dazzling American special effects but yet it all feels refreshingly inventive and fulfilling and complex.

The characters search for why the time loop happened, and how to stop it. Who was to blame? Was it me each character asks? How big an area does the time loop affect? There's only so much that can be done in 2 minutes before the time loop resets everyone back to where they started.

The same people as behind the director's previous time loop film Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes. Each 2-minute section is shot in one take. The ending is off the wall yet fits.

(Image from third window films).