Review — River: A new favourite lo-fi sitcom
Preoccupation with time (how little of it we have, how fast it goes, etc.) is universal, and that’s why director Junta Yamaguchi chose to explore it in his first movie, Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, and in his latest feature, River. In a discussion after the North American premiere of the film at the Fantasia Film Festival, Yamaguchi reflected that his first movie might have been too complicated, explaining that he wanted to twist and explore the concept of a time loop even more for River while keeping it light and most of all, funny.
Set in the Fujiya Inn in Kibune, near Kyoto, River follows the inn’s employees and clients as they’re stuck in a seemingly endless two-minute time loop. Room attendant Mikoto (Riko Fujitani) is our guide through this comedy of situation, and the camera follows her as she and her colleagues reassure their guests and meet together to try and figure out a way out. They remember the events of past time loops, and so they give each other little missions and arrange meetings in the coming resets. At first, it seems Mikoto’s prayers to the river god might be at the origin of the time loop. Still, as the characters get to talking and revealing themselves, it turns out they each have reasons to want time to stop, whether it be a stressed-out writer being chased by a looming deadline or an entrepreneur fearing bankruptcy, for example.
