River (Japanese: リバー、流れないでよ, romanized: ribā, nagarenaide yo, lit. 'River, Don't Flow') is a 2023 Japanese comedy film directed by Junta Yamaguchi, written by Makoto Ueda, and starring Riko Fujitani. It was produced by Europe Kikaku. The film shares much of the same cast as Ueda and Yamaguchi's 2020 film Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, which also involves a time-travel plot.
Set in an old ryokan in the village of Kibune in winter, the movie follows the story of a group of people who get caught in a repeating two-minute loop.
Contents
Plot
Fujiya is a long-established winter ryokan and restaurant in Kibune, Kyoto. Mikoto, a waitress, is standing by the Kibune River behind the annex, clenching her fist gently and thinking about something. Soon she returns to work and cleans up the room with the head waiter, but somehow she finds herself repeatedly returning to the bank of the river where she was two minutes ago.
After an introduction and the title screen, the film is composed of two-minute sequences shot in a single take. All the characters remember what happened before the clock resets, so that they quickly realize that they are in a time loop. Some strangers also appear, such as a woman asking for help due to a breakdown. After some sequences, the main characters try to guess the possible causes of the loop in order to break the cycle, which will be done at the last sequence, thanks to cooperation between the characters.
Cast
Riko Fujitani as Mikoto
Yūki Torigoe as Taku
Manami Honjō as Kimi
Saori Koide as Chino
Munenori Nagano as the head clerk
Takashi Sumita as head chef
Yoshifumi Sakai as Eiji
Yoshimasa Kondo as Obata
Masashi Suwa as Nomiya
Kōda Ishida as Kusumi
Haruki Nakagawa as Sugiyama
Shiori Kubo as Hisame
Kazunari Tosa as hunter
Masahiro Kuroki as Shiraki
Production
Screenwriter Makoto Ueda said that he chose to use a time loop as the main plot element because it was low-budget and because rewinding time and repeating the same time would allow him to look at life from different angles.
Release
The film was screened at the special event "Secret Cinema" on June 25, 2026, as the "At least once in your life" chosen film by the event's ambassador, Kazunari Ninomiya. The gimmick of the event is that the visitors to the film theaters ignore which film is going to be screened until the film is displayed. That was the case of this film, of which the name was withheld until the event's opening day.
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 26 critics gave River a positive review. Richard Whittaker, writing for The Austin Chronicle, praised the "endearing" nature of the characters and concluded that the film "never once feels tedious." Mae Abdulbaki of Screen Rant praised the film's "fantastic performances" and "deep sense of fun."