River (2023): Two minutes at a time
2023 • Junta Yamaguchi • 1.78:1 • Jump to Gallery ↓
Directed by Junta Yamaguchi, River (2023) is a science fiction film about a time loop. It is set in a small rural inn located beside a flowing river in Kyoto. The story follows the inn’s staff and guests as they discover that they are repeatedly pulled back into the same two-minute segment of time. This forces them to navigate an unfolding temporal loop that continuously resets.
From the team behind the micro-budget film Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, River takes a similar idea and executes it in a completely different manner. Here, the two-minute time loop is all about incremental change and learning. Each loop offers so little time, but the accumulation affects the characters’ psyches as they try to find a way out of their predicaments through trial and error and collaboration. On film, this is achieved by exploring all the possibilities within the limited sets. It’s a closed system with lots of potential variations.
Building on the formal experimentation of the previous film, River combines science fiction with situational comedy, character melodrama, and ensemble dynamics. Through great staging and timing, the film demonstrates the infinite possibilities offered by the art of cinema, transforming the loop structure into a theatrical exercise in coordination where the story progresses through a series of micro-adjustments within a strictly limited temporal framework.
Technical Specs:
- The Story: A small-town waitress becomes trapped in a two-minute time loop that endlessly resets, pulling the entire community into a frantic, good-natured scramble to break the cycle before reality collapses.
- Actors: Riko Fujitani, Yoshimasa Kondo, Riku Hagiwara, Yuki Torigoe, Munenori Nagano, Gota Ishida, Kazunari Tosa, Saori Koide.
- Director: Junta Yamaguchi
- Year: 2023
- Cinematographer: Kazunari Kawagoe
- Origin: Japanese Cinema
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Genre: Indie Sci‑Fi / Time Loop Stories
