River (2016)

Undescribable Perfection

Please don't spend money on this.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

"River" is a Laotian film about John Lake, an American doctor working in Laos, who intervenes in the sexual assault of a young woman by an Australian tourist. His efforts of intervening lead to him killing the Australian tourist, being mistakenly accused of sexually assaulting the woman, and having him being a wanted fugitive. The film is directed by first time Canadian director Jamie M. Dagg, who does one hell of a job with this film. The film takes its time to develop the character of John and then throws him in this crazy situation that he mistakenly got himself into. I felt so empathetic towards John because he wanted to do the right thing, and by doing so he accidentally kills a guy and is falsely accused of assaulting a woman. The story is very simple and has been done in many other films before but what makes "River" standout is its realism and Rossif Sutherland's performance as John. Sutherland brings so much energy to this role and does an excellent job being a frantic, scared, and innocent person.As the film continues and John is on the run you later find out who the Australian tourist is related to which adds a new level of extremity to the situation. There's not a lot to say about the film story wise, you have a man on the run and doing what he can to not get arrested for false causes. The performances are great, the direction is great, and the cinematography is overall very well.A couple issues I had with the film is that during some scenes when John is being chased or running the camera is very shaky. And at the last ten or so minutes of the film something is revealed about the situation John's in which causes our character to make an action that didn't sit too well with me. Overall "River" is a wonderful directorial debut for Jamie Dagg, which displays great performances from Rossif Sutherland, and all of the cast as well. I'm looking forward to what this talented young man will do next.

John Lake (Rossif Sutherland) is a doctor working for an NGO in Laos when he gets told to take some time off after a bit of 'stress' in the work place. So he heads to a peaceful part of the country for some 'r and r'. Then he sees a sexual assault taking place between a tourist and a local girl. He intervenes – and it does not take very long for things to go very bad, very quickly.Now that is the synopsis and to say anymore would be a bit of a plot spoiler, however this is a thriller so you know that there is going to be a lot more to this than just the above. And it manages the thriller part really well; the acting is all very good too as is the direction. This is one of those films that goes for down to earth realism rather than sensationalism and that helps it achieve the necessary level of authenticity that means that I, for one, was able to empathise with the characters and engage more deeply. This is one of those films that seem to have slipped by unnoticed, which is a pity as this is one that is very much worth checking out.

This is a super effective film. It is about a man who is accused of a crime in a foreign country - and his journey to avoid capture. Everywhere the main character goes he runs into danger that he could be caught - and the film is so well paced that it kept me on the edge of my seat.Really the film is about running from responsibility - yet at the same time - there is a murky line between guilt and innocence. It is somewhat similar to the film Midnight Cowboy - not quite as masterfully artistic - but defiantly worth the watch.There is a final reversal in the end of the film that is quite harrowing - and it made me really think about justice and responsibility - and heroism.Solid flick!

An American volunteer doctor becomes a fugitive in the south of Laos after he intervenes in the sexual assault of a young woman, after advising the assailant that the young woman had already had enough to drink.When the assailant's body is pulled from the Mekong River, things quickly spiral out of control, when it is discovered that he was an Austrailian senators son.....The film could be a subliminal warning for a lot of things. Travelling alone, getting drunk alone in a strange place, intervening in what isn't your business, even though what you are doing is admirable.It just seems that I spent the duration of the film cursing the main character, John for making some really silly, irrational decisions.But this isn't a criticism of the film, it was more like me thinking to myself 'Oh well done in doing that/leaving there/lying to them, now i'm going to be on the edge of my seat again for the next ten minutes'.Because the film doesn't really give you any information on John, other that he is a Surgeon, and a bit of a maverick one at that, it really does put you into his situation.Would you really put your hands up straightaway and admit what you have done, even though you know it was the right thing to do, because of the language barrier, the intensity of everyone due to the events of the narrative, and having that limited knowledge of the justice system, and how execution is rife, regardless of what the circumstances surrounding the event may have? It's a tense 85 minutes, Sutherland may have the acting gusto yet of that of his father, or step-brother, because by the beginning of the second act, he's a nervous wreck, and you really feel for the guy as he wanders aimlessly from place to place, becoming more and more desperate, as time is inevitably running out for him.There are two jaw dropping scenes that nearly made turn away from the film.He asks a man for a ride on his boat, and due to the language barrier, there is a little bit of confusion at precisely the wrong time, and the silliest thing he does of all, get into a car in the middle of nowhere, very late at night.It's sometimes an ordeal to get through, but it stays on the right side of tense, and doesn't quite push you over that proverbial seat edge.The final ten minutes goes a little off track, huge plot holes are explained in a 'don't worry about it' sort of way, and the final scene in the train station really did make me chuckle, as ninety percent of the background extras appeared to be Tibetan monk, which I deciphered as the writer subtly saying to the audience 'he's doing the right thing, it's a karma thing'.But other than that, it's a really tense film, with some very unsettling locations, and thank heavens it was made as an independent movie, because this could have easily have been made with Matt Damon, and turned into a Bourne like thriller.Because that would have taken any sense of urgency or realism away from it.