River
Khoi Vinh

Review by Khoi Vinh Patron

River 2023

★★★½

Watched 17 Mar 2024

Not as much of an adrenaline rush as “Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes,” but a true pleasure all the same. This “Groundhog Day’-esque time loop movie shows how much a director can really reveal about himself when he revisits a theme. This second-in-a-row exploration of the effect of distortions in our conventional understanding of time as a linear phenomenon makes it clear that Yamaguchi is fascinated with how much that linearity shapes our self-determinism. Both “River” and its predecessor put their protagonists in positions to decide whether to conform to what fate seems to lay out for them or to take agency in the course of their own lives. This stands in contrast to Ramis’s approach to the same question of time loops, which focused on how one conducts oneself as a spiritual being when caught in an infinite pocket of time. Yamaguchi hasn’t quite reached the heights of delirious mastery that Ramis did in “Groundhog Day,” but his work is still wonderfully entertaining. “River” is a genial, pleasant complement to “Beyond.” Can’t wait for the next one.

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