RIVER (Third Window Films)

River
Written by Makoto Ueda
Directed by Junta Yamaguchi
Starring Riko Fujitani, Manami Honjô, Gôta Ishida
Running time 1 hour and 26 minutes
MPAA rating currently unrated
On DVD, Blu-ray, and digital February 12th from Third Window Films

By “Doc” Hunter Bush, contributor and Podcast Czar

Synopsis:
“A traditional Kyoto inn is looping two minutes at a time!” That was all I had to go on when I was lucky enough to see this at last year’s Fantasia Fest. I was unfamiliar with director Junta Yamaguchi, writer Makoto Ueda, or their previous “tiny loop” film Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020), so that one sentence was all I knew. You’ll often find the old “go into this movie knowing as little as possible” cliché trotted out when a movie has a twist. River (2023) doesn’t have one, but by going in knowing almost nothing, the film was able to completely and permanently charm me.

But if you’d like a little more information: Everyone in the immediate vicinity of the Fujiya inn is stuck in a two minute time loop. They’re all aware of it, but no one has any idea how or why it’s happening, or how to stop it. There are no “fate of the world” stakes, just interpersonal ones: a budding relationship, two old friends catching up, a writer’s blocked author with a tight deadline - they’re all stuck to either thrive or flourish in this new situation.

What Features Make it Special:

• All-region DVD & Blu-ray
• Interview with director Junta Yamaguchi
• Hour-long making of feature
• Trailer

Why You Need to Add it to Your Media Library:
If all this disc included was a (region-free) copy of River, I’d still recommend it. I just want to get that out of the way. Even whenever it finds its way to streaming, a film like River is never going to be the first thing that your streaming service of choice suggests when you log on. It’s entirely possible that it would get lost in the digital shuffle, so being able to have it at my fingertips is a h-u-g-e selling point for me.

But. Beyond that, I also really enjoyed the bonus features. The making of feature is an hour long which, I’ll admit, I initially balked at - River is a small concept with small stakes taking place in one location, how can you fill a making of feature that’s ⅔ the length of the film itself? - but it perfectly reflects the feeling of the finished film. The assortment of on-set interviews with the cast & crew show how they all really cared about the project, and each other, and worked very hard to create this little gem of a movie.

In the interview with director Yamaguchi, he mentions that the Fujiya inn (where they filmed) is prone to swift and drastic shifts in weather, and that the script needed to be adjusted to emotionally fit the weather whenever possible, and that filming was delayed by a record snowfall that cost them 4 of their 10 shooting days. In the making of, you not only see more of this snowfall (which is absolutely gorgeous, btw) but also the cast & crew all chipping in to get the location cleaned up and shoveled to make it possible to continue filming. It’s very sweet.

For anyone who may be familiar with Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and curious how River differs from it, Yamaguchi describes Beyond as being focused on “...logic (and) time” while River is more focused on “...people (and) emotion. Both River and Beyond before it are small productions with big hearts, and I was very glad to hear that Yamaguchi and writer Ueda have plans to continue making films (their creative partnership stems from the Europe Kikaku theater group, which they both still work with). I’ll be saving space on my shelves for them.