Post by Martin Stett on Jun 12, 2024 0:53:34 GMT
From the minds that brought us the wonderfully lighthearted Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes comes another time travel comedy that is just as charming. And if it doesn't have the big laughs of its predecessor, River makes up for it with a touching tale of an ensemble cast all learning simple life lessons.
The basic idea is this: a small inn in the Japanese countryside is stuck in a time loop. Every two minutes, everybody warps back to where and when they were when the loop started, with all their memories intact. As we follow the staff who are trying to keep their customers happy ("We appear to be stuck in a time loop, we're sorry for the inconvenience, the pantry is over here and you can take whatever you want since we'll just be resetting time in a moment...") while also attempting to figure out what is causing the phenomenon. As time goes on - and snaps back - the various guests and surrounding locals also get involved, all of them seeking for a cause and a solution. When you've got to take a shit and a minute later you've got to take it again, it does make you anxious to just sort this out and get time flowing again, y'know? (Yes, that is a real issue one of the characters has to endure.)
The key here is that director Junta Yamaguchi keeps that same high energy that made his previous film such a delight. Since each "lap" is only two minutes long, this infuses each successive run with even more urgency. Each time we get a staff meeting, you can be sure that the next few laps will be chaos as everyone tries to fulfill their role while trying to stop problems from happening on their next run. It's a delightfully pragmatic approach to the situation that the characters take, and this makes their plans fun to follow as we get a real team effort from our zany cast of victims.
It's all a grand time of light, optimistic fun. There is a terrific momentum to this movie, and I had a blast. One of the best films of 2023.
![](https://images.mubicdn.net/images/film/384153/cache-891742-1689345417/image-w1280.jpg?size=800x)
The basic idea is this: a small inn in the Japanese countryside is stuck in a time loop. Every two minutes, everybody warps back to where and when they were when the loop started, with all their memories intact. As we follow the staff who are trying to keep their customers happy ("We appear to be stuck in a time loop, we're sorry for the inconvenience, the pantry is over here and you can take whatever you want since we'll just be resetting time in a moment...") while also attempting to figure out what is causing the phenomenon. As time goes on - and snaps back - the various guests and surrounding locals also get involved, all of them seeking for a cause and a solution. When you've got to take a shit and a minute later you've got to take it again, it does make you anxious to just sort this out and get time flowing again, y'know? (Yes, that is a real issue one of the characters has to endure.)
The key here is that director Junta Yamaguchi keeps that same high energy that made his previous film such a delight. Since each "lap" is only two minutes long, this infuses each successive run with even more urgency. Each time we get a staff meeting, you can be sure that the next few laps will be chaos as everyone tries to fulfill their role while trying to stop problems from happening on their next run. It's a delightfully pragmatic approach to the situation that the characters take, and this makes their plans fun to follow as we get a real team effort from our zany cast of victims.
It's all a grand time of light, optimistic fun. There is a terrific momentum to this movie, and I had a blast. One of the best films of 2023.
![](https://images.mubicdn.net/images/film/384153/cache-891742-1689345417/image-w1280.jpg?size=800x)