River, Nagarenaide yo (2023)

I liked this so much, I'd want to give it more than "just" 10/10!!!

Seriously, there are times when you watch something so tremendously satisfying, that you kinda feel bad for not being able to rate it more than "just" the top grade, and it is precisely the case with this fabulous "River, Nagarenaide yo"!
Hard to explain why it hit me so much without giving anything away (and that'd be a pity 'cause it would deprive you of the pleasure of finding out by yourselves!), I'll just say this: the premise is as interesting as they come; the way they actually made it work was nothing short of a serious stroke of genius; the technical difficulties I can only imagine but must have been something indeed, chapeau for the way they brilliantly overcame them; the cast did *marvelously*, with a special mention for the amazing, lovely, gorgeous (I could go on and on!) Fujitani Riko; the setting is simply F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S; the "packaging" absolutely top-notch (I normally am not really a fan of hand-held cameras, but there was no other way to make this work!).
What are you waiting for? Go watch this *now*! You'll thank me later! ^____-
10/10 and instant top10 of all times, as far as I'm concerned!

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Again and again and again...really fun!

Wow, just wow! What a fun film this was! I hear "time loop" and I am buying it immediately.

The story takes place in an inn somewhere around Kyoto (apparently a very well-known area!) in the winter. All of a sudden, the whole area finds itself inside a 2min time loop. After the first incredulity and shock, the staff and the guests quickly get used to the looping and bear it calmly. Until they don't. Until they do...

The film portrays magnificently people slowly realizing what is important, finally talking to each other and being honest with what they want. There is Mikoto who is angry that her boyfriend, the inn chef, wants to go to France to study cooking. She takes this opportunity to tell him honestly what she thinks of it but at the same time, while trying to figure out the reasons for the time loop, they talk more, laugh together more, come to understand each other better. There are guests of the inn: a writer with a writing block using this opportunity to rest, relax and think at peace which turns out to be very effective. There is a pair of old friends reconnecting who end up arguing and telling finally the truth, stop pretending..;

The time loop serves as a motivation behind the character growth. People are very polite and do not dare break society convention; the time loop liberates them and they become stronger and finally truthful about their hopes and wishes.

The film is funny. I loved the cool attitude the characters held. It was fun to watch one conversaton continue through multiple loops. Everyone was in the loop, retaking the same start position every time but doing different things during each loop.

One problem though which was never explained properly; the weather. They did go through many loops and since it was only local, the weather kept changing but how likely is the weather to turn from winter with 10cm of snow to spring to winter and snowing again literally from one loop to the next. I think there is a serious continuity problem here hence the rating...Other than that, highly recommended!

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