1997 · drama
The River (Tsai Ming-liang)
Directed by Tsai Ming-liang1h 56m1997
A young man develops severe neck pain after swimming in a polluted river for a movie shoot, but nobody can provide him any relief.
Our read: The River (Tsai Ming-liang) (1997) reads as a heavy, slow-burn, inventive drama entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature.
Heavy, slow-burn, measured drama, inventive in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold.
- heavy
- slow-burn
- intense
- inventive
- bleak
- signature
Watching The River tonight? Spin for your lens.
Everyone on the couch spins once and gets one craft to watch for. After the credits, compare what you caught.
Your lens for tonight
?
Everyone on the couch gets one craft to watch for. Spin the wheel to get yours. Sound on: the narrator reads your mission.
More info & search links
How The River feels to watch.
Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.
What watching it is actually like.
“You want demanding slow cinema about a family's isolation, physical pain and unspoken desires.”
Skip it tonight — Skip if very slow pacing, explicit sex scenes or bleak family portraits will alienate you.
Eight films that feel like this one.
Closest in the twelve-axis space, not “people also liked”. All films like The River (Tsai Ming-liang), with why →
Discussion
Make it a movie night.
Pick a mood, get a film the whole couch will enjoy, and give everyone something to watch for.
Pick tonight's film →