River - The Timeloop Hotel

Actually, the movie is not hard to follow at all. I was just thinking about how to try to explain this to anyone. How do you not spoil anything, but still explain the wild genre switches? I mean, as I'm writing this, the major genre is not even listed on this site, but I don't even want to fix it, because it would kind of make the movie worse.

And in general, I'm not against spoilers. Usually the "how" is much more interesting than the "what" and the "what" is usually so obvious that knowing it beforehand doesn't really matter, but this movie does the whole thing so differently that I wouldn't want to point anything out.

Is this even helpful to anyone? It's a cute little movie that accomplishes much more than anyone can ask of it. It's this little gem that manages to mix wildly different ideas in a way that doesn't feel forced. If nothing else, it's interesting from a filmmaking point of view.

This is a great little movie, a real gem and an absolute must watch wether you're into fantasy or science fiction or not, wether you're into japanese movies and culture or not. It is a movie done with a very small budget and small group of actors basically in one single location. The script is mostly hilarious and moving at times, so full of inventions and situations and the characters are all extremely well crafted. The direction is purely virtuosic. Basically each two minutes loop is a non stop sequence and each one of them is different from the other. I do not want to spoil any element as it's important to watch it without knowing anything more than the basic concept. Believe me, I do not write reviews very often and if I do it's for an extremely good reason.

What a great little indie film. Loved the female lead character Mikoto, she kept me watchingl While stuck in a loop, the staff of a hotel try to both keep their guests happy and informed while also attempting to understand and extricate themselves from the situation. Unlike other loop themed tales, everyone recalls everything from previous iterations. This allows them to perform a variety of experiments to gain information that could lead to an exit. At same time all the usual human responses and interactions proceed apace. With an overlay of Japanese mannerisms, the story is completely beguiling.

Give it a try.

Time loop movies are nothing new at this point but it's done in a way I haven't seen before here, and the Japanese flair adds to the novelty feeling. It's pretty cute, well directed and acted (unless you have an issue with the usual Japanese "overacting" style). I thoroughly enjoyed it even though I found the denouement to be a bit of a let down. Still recommended!

Asian cinema. With pleasure. Not even 90 minutes. Absolutely.

The visuals are a journey back in time to the 90s of Asian cinema, especially because of the lighting.

To digress a little first: Scenes shown make a European somehow melancholy. Japan has preserved its traditions and culture, its identity. No alienation, er I mean "diversity" of course, no loss of values, quality of life and inner security through unpleasant religions or primitive origins. As if more and more pages are being torn out of a book that is hundreds of years old. Those who don't understand its written words, will never understand them, don't want to understand them or are generally illiterate, don't care.

Back to the point: The basic premise of the time loop is of course nothing new, but the extremely short two minutes here open up completely new possibilities for ideas. And the film is bursting with them. The entire running time is entertaining, consistently interesting, often funny, sometimes sad. Even for viewers with viewing habits that deviate from this cinematic origin, I think the film can be consumed without hesitation and offers a wonderful time in front of the screen.