The action of this film is so slow that I couldn't help being disturbed by the popcorn muncher behind me two rows back. It was such an existential experience, I found myself reasoning the sounds behind me were no less banal than the ones on the screen and it would do no good to complain.
This is a film that the missing time between scenes plays as much a part of the film as what is on the screen.
Like a meditative fragment from the presocratic philosophers "the River" is an assemblage of 24 sequential still images replayed to create the illusion of motion and Tsai takes each long, drawn out sequential scene and removes so much in between to maintain fluidity the audience is forced to fill in the gaps to complete the story.
Like Ingmar Bergman's "Cries and Whispers" disease is a metaphor creeping its way into the lives of a pool of people. But Tsai, has removed the beautiful image, and the mysticism. He hammers a cold story directly into the psyche. Emphasizing fleeting connections between the disconnected, "the River" is more than the filthy river that may or may not be the source of the main characters problem but a degraded class of people without hope of understanding what's happening to them.
Be prepared for a devastating and harsh illustration of gender confusion and environmental disaster.
This is a film that the missing time between scenes plays as much a part of the film as what is on the screen.
Like a meditative fragment from the presocratic philosophers "the River" is an assemblage of 24 sequential still images replayed to create the illusion of motion and Tsai takes each long, drawn out sequential scene and removes so much in between to maintain fluidity the audience is forced to fill in the gaps to complete the story.
Like Ingmar Bergman's "Cries and Whispers" disease is a metaphor creeping its way into the lives of a pool of people. But Tsai, has removed the beautiful image, and the mysticism. He hammers a cold story directly into the psyche. Emphasizing fleeting connections between the disconnected, "the River" is more than the filthy river that may or may not be the source of the main characters problem but a degraded class of people without hope of understanding what's happening to them.
Be prepared for a devastating and harsh illustration of gender confusion and environmental disaster.