River: Part 2

Matt Donato, Ben Silverio, and Ansel Burch are pop culture observers/ content creators/ excellent friends who are here to have a great time. After all, the noodles never run out, and we never get full!

It’s review time and we have an excellent conversation for you in this one. We cover our favorite parts, how this fits in with other time loop movies, including its spiritual predecessor Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes.

As promised, a picture of Matt’s hair.

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Matt Donato is @Donatobomb on Bluesky, Letterboxd, and Instagram

Check out his podcast, Certified Forgotten. It’s a podcast about horror movies with 10 or fewer critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Ben Silverio is @BSilverio20 on Instagram, X, Threads, Blusky, and Hive.

Ansel Burch is @TheIndecisionist on IG, Facebook, Yowsa, Blusky, Reddit, and Threads.

Check out Ansel’s new TTRPG, Cards! https://the-indecisionist.itch.io/cards

Check out Ansel’s new time travel actual play podcast, For the Time Being!

Next week is edutainment time. We’re talking about some of the tech from the movie and a little industry insider knowledge. So tune in for that new episode on 4/21. Until then, make sure you’re subscribed, because it’s always #Time2Party

Transcript

Ben Silverio 0:05

Hey, I'm Ben Silverio,

Matt Donato 0:07

and I am Matt Donato,

Ansel Burch 0:08

and I'm Ansel Burch,

Ben Silverio 0:09

and it's time to party.

Ansel Burch 0:14

We are not doctors. We don't give medical advice. Please drink responsibly. Today's episode is recorded on March 20, 2025,

Ben Silverio 0:23

yeah, I was trying to think of a song to sing, and I'm looking at my orange Cassidy action figure, and I can't think of a steam music now, for whatever reason,

Ben Silverio 0:32

what

Matt Donato 0:32

it's? Jane,

Ben Silverio 0:33

yeah, I know, but let's just like, hum it. Matt, how does it go?

Matt Donato 0:42

Now?

That. Wow.

Ben Silverio 0:44

See, this is more fun when I'm not the one trying to hum us off.

Matt Donato 0:47

Oh, and you're listening. You just make other you make your guests come on,

Ansel Burch 0:50

tricking him into doing it. Okay.

Ben Silverio 0:53

Yes, party people. See, we already got the party started. Look at that. Welcome to Time to party. This month, we are talking about the amazing Japanese film from 2023 River, and to talk about it, we have the incredible Matt Donato with us. Thank you very much. I am excited to actually get into the critique here, because I want to hear what you guys have to say. Like, my favorite part about showing people river is hearing what they think about it, because I know what I think about I've seen it so many times, but it might the first reaction is always the best from people. Part of what makes it so good about having Matt here to talk with us about this movie is that he's kind of an expert on it. I like to think so, arguably, one of the nation's top experts on the topic, one of the nation's top experts on the movies no one heard of that is literally put it on my tombstone.

Ben Silverio 1:44

That is mine. But yes, if you wanted to watch river, you can watch it on Prime Video, but you can also pick up the physical media release, where you will find Mr. Matt Donato speaking on the movie.

Matt Donato 2:00

I mean, not on the movie, but like, well, technically, no, I am speaking over the movie. I think on and over works, yeah. Uh, just for those who don't know myself and fellow film critic, Robert Hunter, we did a little film commentary for river. I think there is a second commentary. So we're not the only ones. Like, I did look at Brad who owns television, like, very jokingly, and I was like, You want two white dudes to do the film commentary for film commentary for river? Don't worry, you're not the only commentary. And I was like, good, okay, I'm making sure. Yeah. Oh, good. Okay, we're okay,

Ben Silverio 2:30

yes. So for those of you who don't know, here's what our friends at IMDb say about river on a calm winter's day, a Mountain Inn becomes trapped in a time loop.

Yeah, that that sounds like a comedy. Oh, that was the whole thing. Oh, that was the whole That's it. That's the whole thing. And funny story, Rotten Tomatoes doesn't even have a synopsis. Oh, yeah. So, you know, we usually do two synopses throughout the month for our movies, I had to go to the actual production company to get the other so now to get the first one. Yeah, yeah. So you know you'll hear that on our third episode. But before we get there, because I know how much everyone loves edutainment,

Unknown Speaker 3:18

we have our review of river,

Matt Donato 3:21

which directed by the amazing junta Yamaguchi, written by Makoto Ueda. You may remember those names from an earlier episode of time to party where we covered beyond the infinite two minutes. I believe river is meant to be a sequel. Is that, right? Matt, I don't believe it's meant to be a sequel. I think it is definitely playing off of the on the infinite two minutes. It is the way that I interpret. It is Yamaguchi, maybe, on the infinite two minutes. And that was a spectacular little time loop. But he was playing with time loops in a scale that was smaller, I think, getting used to it. So my read on it is that river is him going back to do another time loop movie, but going all right, that was my test beyond the end 15 minutes went well, I'm gonna take everything I learned from there and let's go bigger batter and do that way. So I don't think it's an exact sequel. It's cool. If it is, I might have missed that detail. More of a spiritual sequel, really? Yes, spiritual is like success, or even, I would say, like one of those just sibling watches.

Yeah, they would make a great double feature, especially since they're both pretty short. We love a short movie.

Ben Silverio 4:35

God, today's day and age. Absolutely, oh, my god. How does Christopher Nolan keep getting away with it, with these epic, eight hour long movies, because he goes forwards and then he goes backwards. That's true. That's his secret.

Matt Donato 4:51

That's the trick. He discovered the TV remote, at

Ben Silverio 4:58

least when Yamaguchi does it.

He's respectful of your time,

Matt Donato 5:03

which we love here at Time to party. So since this is a smaller movie compared to some of the much larger, more classic movies that we cover here, Matt, why don't we talk a little bit about how you found this movie first? Yeah, absolutely. So this was a premiere at Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal. It was about two years ago at this point. I think it might have been 2022 where I saw it in Fantasia, and then it came out in 2023 for television. If I'm remembering time correctly, it might be a year later. Time doesn't matter anymore. The world for fire. But anyway, so I go to Fantasia. I was headed to Montreal, and Fantasia does a fantastic job of bringing Asian cinema in. They do a lot of not only Japanese, but Korean and Chinese films. There are movies I've seen at Fantasia over a decade ago at this point that still haven't been released, because it's just one of those. You're never going to get it the rights, whatever that means, like, the rights are never going to get into American soil. It's what it is. So is. So River, it's there. I like to be on the infant two minutes. I made sure to make time to see this one. And it was me and Rob Hunter, who I mentioned previously, were sitting next to each other, and we were just, we were like in hysterics the whole time. It played so well in a crowd, everyone's in the right mood for it. It was my favorite film of the festival, and then when it actually got released the next year, easily, my favorite film of that year, you know, top three, let's say, up there. And it's, it's, it's a testament to these, like, little international films, that it's hard enough for tiny independent films that are American to break through, like here. So the fact that you're gonna now ask people to, you know, read subtitles where you're watching a movie like that was never gonna, never gonna work. Yep. So the pathway for that was Fantasia. I think it played a few other festivals. It makes its buzz, obviously there, then it doesn't really get a release here. It just kind of goes by the wayside, does its stuff overseas. And as I previously mentioned, Mr. Brad Henderson, who runs television as of now, he started a side label called grave face, where he just wants to release any movie, like televisions, horror movies, gray faces. I saw this. No one's putting it out. I'm gonna put it out. So he went out there. He got the rights for river, and lo and behold, now we have the physical blu ray for it. But even then, like it was a boutique label that had to do it. It's not one of the big ones, and that's not a knock on Brad by any means, like he knows the size of his company, and the fact that he is out there fighting for films like river just to be seen is again, a testament to him and what he does the community. So yeah, a long little journey for river, but it finally got out there, and it's just still struggling to be seen. Our industry really needs more people like Brad fighting movies, you know, yeah? Like verified air he's breathing, yeah? You know, like Matt, I go to film festivals throughout the year as well, and I see so many that are just like, Man, this should be a thing, and then it totally isn't ever again, which sucks, because there's such, you know, independent film has such grit and such heart, you know, that that the general public needs to see more of but for whatever reason, they never do, or they don't in the theater, they just wait till it hits streaming and ours, they're just like, Oh, this looks funny, yeah. But then it's if they find it on streaming, yes, it's part of it like that. Yeah, that's really the trick is, yeah. Now, now you can watch any movie ever, but you have to hear about it. But I'm so glad that Matt brought this movie to my attention, because, like, you know, I also like to be on the infant two minutes. So much so to see this filmmaker continuing to make excellent work is awesome. But, you know, I feel like time loops really lend themselves to comedy. You know, like when it comes to time travel media, I think time loops tend to be the funniest mechanic, right? So, how would you two compare river to other movies with the mechanic, like palm springs or Groundhog Day.

I know it's hard because of the the scale, but, like, I actually don't think it's that hard. Oh, really, I'll let Matt go first. But yeah, yeah, sure, I'll dive into it. I mean, to me, the comparison is what you do with the time loop outside of the loop itself. Like, what are you playing? What sandbox Are you playing in? Palm Springs is a wedding. You know, Groundhog Day is Groundhog Day. But I like,

I like the way that river is a workplace comedy, like, front to back. It's, it's not even caring about the time loop in a, in a weird, obsessive way, the time loop is just an obstacle for all these people to do their jobs. Yeah. So not only are they like, you know, they're not really stressing the time loop the entire time, let's say, but the talking about, like, the mechanics of it, the time loop doesn't really turn people into monsters or anything. It doesn't really have a negative effect. These people just go about.

Their day. And I think that's also a testament to, like, Japanese cinema and the way that American cinema works too. Because I the American version of this movie is so much different, like, there's more drama, there's more bullshit, and it has to have like a darkness to it, because I feel like a lot of the time the movies do that, where we're right back talking about Japanese cinema, and it's allowed just to be, like, effervescent and airy and fun, and it doesn't care, like, it doesn't care about being anything else. It's exactly what that is the whole time. So I mean, again, in comparison, I think it really is a Japanese versus American cinema. But talking about the comedy specifically, it's very cultural. It's very attuned to the Japanese workforce and that kind of work culture, and the idea that they would, they would still care more about their jobs than being stuck in an infinite two minutes. So, yeah, I think that's where that comes in. Oh, fuck.

Ben Silverio 10:49

The guests are gonna be so inconvenienced. Oh, my God, yes. They're like, Don't worry, we'll do extra stuff for them. They'll be fine. Just give them more booze. But you're totally right. Like, Japanese cinema, I feel like, allows their stories to be sillier than American movies. Like, it's just sure Groundhog Day is silly, but like, river kind of takes it to a whole other level. In fact, there's even a point where it's just like, they they're like, oh yeah. Crazy Things are happening, but we're coping, you know, it's just like a, oh, you know, a minor inconvenience throughout the day, because, like the rules of river, is that they retain their memories of what happened in the previous loops. So it's like they just have to keep, you know, dealing with these slight setbacks of going back to their initial start points and all that stuff. But I also think it's funny that the one who's most skeptical initially is the writer. Yeah, the writer character is so beautiful the idea that he's stuck in a time loop, and his reaction is no fear. He's just like, I don't have a deadline. Oh my god, it just stops working.

Speaker 2 11:58

It's there. I think they're all the characters to me, have their quirks that I really, really enjoy. But I mean, the writer is my favorite again, because the very introduction of this character, he's the publisher's talking to him. He's like, can you please just write? Can you please just do something? And he's like, Well, I'm stuck because the woman's dead. And the publisher's like, you did that. You killed the woman. Just go back and just erase that. And he's like, No, I can't do that. She's dead, but I just don't know what to do when he anymore. And it's the basis of that character starting there is so much funnier for everything that happens later. Oh, yes, did you guys think at the very beginning that that was gonna be what did it like for for a minute there, I thought he was a meta character, like he was writing the movie that we were about to watch. Oh, like a, like a Ruby sparks, Stranger Than Fiction situation. Oh, that's interesting. That would have been a very different movie, a very different film. Yeah, well, yeah, because if his, if he's doing it, then the the narrative focus is him trying to keep everyone in the time loop. And that does become more sinister, that becomes a little more I control over you. That's the American version of the movie. That's their kind of yep, that's how we would do it. But instead, we get this really sweet romance, really lovely, I love, especially that we get that sweet romance in this beautiful, like, truly heartfelt narrative all the way up to the like turn, and then there's this, this hard turn in the third act, and everything just goes complete Looney Tunes. What a beautiful choice, like, if you stopped the movie after that point where, where they're like, you know, the

Speaker 2 13:37

I'm gonna wish so hard for the river, for the the river to start time back up. And, you know, like, they all admit that they're they also wished for time to stop and, like, there's beautiful, like, oh yes, and then it's just Oh no. It's a time traveler is stuck up the road.

Matt Donato 13:54

Such a lovely turn. Well, I was gonna say, like, I didn't know how far we want to get into it yet, or stuff like that, but spoilers away. Yeah. Oh, cool. Okay, yeah. So it feels like a legends of tomorrow episode, almost in like a lot of ways the minute, because you're in it, you're in it not knowing what it is like, which is a weird thing to say, like you are in the moment, having no idea what's happening. And that is because the character is doing such a good job of going about their day and doing ordinary things and not being extravagant. And it is an understated time loop thriller, until it's about a time traveler who, like, is on time patrol and their time machine broke down. It's and it's such a funny, hilarious way to end things, because it just gets even goofy. Or it's a Goofy Movie already. It's silly. It's up there, like, but also like talking about the beauty of that romance. Like kibune itself is a gorgeous, awe, striking location, and you are getting to stay there with these characters. And I think that really does influence a lot of the film's tone. Because it's sunny, it's snowy, it's all these things. And the.

Ben Silverio 15:00

Natural wonder of where they are, it just wouldn't support anything else. So I think it's a really smart directorial choice and writing choice to select that place for location and use that to be like, yeah, there's a time loop happening. But like, is it really that bad if you're in commute? Yeah, right. It it helps that the location is like, magical in itself. You know, just looking around, it does feel like someplace that would be magical. I mean, the shrine right up those stairs and everything and everything just looking gorgeous. But, you know, I mean, you both nailed it. It starts out as a fantasy, really, and then it, it drifts into a sci fi. And in my review on letterbox, I said the story moves at such a brisk pace that there's no time to ask questions, and you just accept it, you know, and like, it's fine, like, I don't question it at all. I'm like, Oh yeah, time traveler, okay, how are they gonna fix this? It's just like, it's so in tone that you're like, oh yeah. Okay, sure. Why wouldn't that be,

Matt Donato 15:58

yeah, exactly. It's such a thing of like, oh, we just have to fix this, and we go back to normal again. There's no like this. It's weird to say that there's no stakes in this movie, because I never feel danger by any means. I never feel anything like that. But it also doesn't hurt the film by any means. I actually think it helps it, because there is no ticking clock. There is no whatever you want to say, impending doom. These are people that are just going about a time loop, and we don't see that enough. I feel like there's always some kind of, we only have three more jumps, and then we die. Or, you know, there's a killer like, like, we're looking at Happy death day stuff like that. There's, there's something there that is dangerous and that sort of restarts. Things. Like, you die and you restart. No, this is literally you're just working, and you just have to do your job again. And you just, you just get a little annoyed, maybe, a little annoyed. Maybe, I don't know, and we let them solve problems as we go, which I that was a particularly masterful stroke, because I did keep expecting these like, oh that, well, that's the problem you have to deal with. Oh no. Next revolution. Got it figured out. Oh, the guy's gonna shoot himself. He's gonna shoot himself. I'll just call him. I just, I've got his number fixed. There are two moments in particular where I don't want to say I felt danger, but I did feel concern. Like the first one is when Chino is about to narc on Makoto. I'm like, why are you gonna do that? Messed up, bro. But you know, she's under a whole lot of stress. I kind of get it like she wasn't that well, held together to begin with. Chino

Ben Silverio 17:28

was incredibly high struck,

Matt Donato 17:31

yeah. I mean, like, Chino is the one who, when they found out it's a time loop, was more worried about the hot sake being there and being like, how do I get it to the people they need the socket. It's like, you're in a time loop. And she's like, Yeah, but like, Do

you know how much time I've spent warming this fucking socket? Sorry. And then it goes right back. I love that is when she apologizes, oh, exactly. Like, exactly she's apologizing to the patrons. And the patrons are kind of like, Oh, we love that. So I think those two guys, so just to set the stage for people listening. I think, actually, I want to go back a little farther, because it's not just that the patrons are going about their day. It's that every patron is in a unique scenario when the time loop starts, like, there are two friends who are eating a hot pot. So every time it resets, the rice refills, and they're, like, weird, I we can't stop eating rice. And, like, funny, cute, adorable. There's there's the writer who cannot. Every time he writes, it disappears. So he just gives up on writing, and he goes, Oh, that fucking party. Like, I'm gonna go do my thing. And partying to him is just like poking holes in the wall and just like minimal mischief, intrusive thoughts, throwing his shit out the window, right? He's just, he's like a toddler. Basically, we also have the guy in the hot, hot bath, I guess let's call it, yeah? So this poor guy, every time it restarts, he's just naked, being like, what is happening? And I thought if I were in that guy's position, I feel like I'd have stayed there, like, oh, okay, yeah. I just like, I'm just hanging out. I get he's, he's got a deadline, he's trying to get his writer to go, but still, like, but, yeah. So then we have a guy taking a chef protege taking a nap, the other chefs across the street figuring out their lives. One goes crazy, starts killing people, whatever. It's like a thing, yeah, whatever, yeah. So I love the idea of camera too, right? You don't see anything, barely addressed it, but yeah. So I love the idea that river, it's, it's, it is a unique starting point every time in that it's the same thing, but it's also a silly it's gonna keep using that word is a silly scenario no matter which way you look. And it's like a choose your own adventure. For the people working at the resort, they have to figure out, okay, who do we help first? How do we help them? How do we get them to understand and once again, them explaining what is happening

to the two diners, let's say yes, the Coto and Cheeto are trying to be like, Okay, we're in a time loop. And they're like, oh, so the rice just keeps refilling. But like, when I get hungry and they're like, no, like, time itself is looping, and they're like, Yeah, but I'm gonna get sick of the rice. And they're like, you're not understanding this. Like, time is looping. And the guys are just like, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 20:00

The rice. Though,

Matt Donato 20:02

when one of the chefs asks, What happens if I have to take a shit during the time loop doesn't just back up my ass.

I laugh every time. So good on my re watch this time. I paused it on both the screens to get both dialog and I finally posted it because I'm like, if you haven't seen river yet, just like, river yet, just like, What are you doing? This movie's perfect. It's so good. He says it, and I'm just like, that is a very good point. What is the answer? What a reasonable question. Yeah. And then it restarts too. I love it because he says it right at the end of a restart. So he delivers that line, and it just like, goes back to the beginning, and everyone just, just like, we're not gonna acknowledge that. I don't, yeah, let's just go about our day. We're gonna move on. I also love that, you know, from that point forward, that that guy just needs a shit the whole rest of the movie, the whole movie, he has to so bad, that guy has been wanting to take top

Ben Silverio 21:01

God. And, you know, I mean, that's kind of the beginning of the second instance of where I got concerned, because, like in the third act, it gets real dark in one of those loops where the chef gets stabbed, where the taxi crashes, where the writer jumps out the window like it just gets super dark for that one loop, and then it goes back to being kind of silly again. And then you have the hunter who shoots himself. But then it's just like, No, don't worry, I'll call him next time. Yeah. It's just like, they're not even sweating it anymore. You know, I also really enjoyed that the writer in the following loop after he jumped out the window, he says, no, no, no, that really hurt. I'm not doing that again. Like,

Matt Donato 21:48

I'm good. That was it. I'm fine. I don't need to. I just wanted to know, yeah, like, I found out what death is. Now I don't want to do that again. It's bad. I'd rather not like but I think like Ben, that's a really good point. I love pointing out the dark turn it does take, but it doesn't stay there, because again, the other movies would get caught in that once you take the dark turn, you have to keep going down that path, and that's the way it like a third act would go. But another benefit to me, of like Japanese cinema, is the ability to just basically weave in and out of tones like that, and to be able to deliver something so bleak and so absolutely destructive, and then go back to a next scene, and they just pivot right out of it. It's commonplace. They they're able to to share all of their emotions at the same time. Where I feel like American cinema takes its time doing stuff like that, like if something dark happens, we have to stay there. If this stops, we have to stay there where gotta resolve it. And right? Yeah, exactly. And the freedom of Japanese cinema is just, it's just more expressive. It experiences everything at once, and it lets its characters experience everything at once, because that's, that's reality like, that's way more believable than the Hollywood eyes versions of how people deal with emotions. And I think River is a great one, because, you know, we can laugh at the fact these workers are focused on their job at the end of the day. Like, if you were stuck in a time loop, like, what would you do? Would you panic the whole time? Would you focus on work the whole time? It's, it's a funny way to look at it, from the perspective of, if this shit really happened, how would we do it? Yeah, I mean, how many loops would it take for you to get to a dark place. You know, it's just like, I don't think I could stay as calm as those innkeepers for 10, you know, revolutions as I mean, in the end they get to about like 20, right? Like 20 something, probably something like that. Yeah,

Ben Silverio 23:38

I remember reading an article about Groundhog Day, where they they talk about some theological like belief, of like, actually finding your piece and finding who you are can take, like, 1000s of years. So like, Bill Murray was stuck in Groundhog Day for 1000s of years, but like this took like, a very small chunk of that. And it's just like, I I feel like I would hit the same point as them as like, Okay, I would probably break down around, like, 1012, but these guys just go right back into it, like, it's okay, we need to go forward. And I think that's why river is such a great movie to watch in this current climate of reality. You know, we just have things coming up again and again and again in this country. You know, I quoted it before when Makoto says, crazy things are happening, but we're coping like girls, same like we just need to attack whatever comes up and then worry about the next thing. It's tiring, for sure, but, you know, sometimes you get that really sweet love story in there too, which I really liked, Makoto, and

Matt Donato 24:52

what's his name, Taku. Taku, yes, they reminded me of a little bit of like Cory and Topanga. I.

Unknown Speaker 25:00

You know, except

Ben Silverio 25:03

taco is gonna go and study French cuisine and Topanga didn't go to Yale because they're ridiculous.

It's not like Yale is that far from Philadelphia.

Matt Donato 25:17

You're really hung up on this, like, I feel like there's some

Ben Silverio 25:21

Corey and Topanga have been Ben's issue for a long time, is what I'm learning. I'm just saying, Why would you give up a great future like that for your partner when you're not even that far away, even back then, when they didn't have zoom, when they didn't have cell phones as prominently like Philadelphia is not that far from Yale, where, you know, where Corey stayed. I'm just, I'm just saying, just putting it as they wrote it in California, and none of them know

Speaker 2 25:51

it's actually valid. Yeah, that is actually probably what happened Philadelphia and New Jersey seem like very far away places. Or, sorry, new New Haven Connecticut feel like very far away places. Well, there's an Amtrak line that goes pretty much directly there.

Matt Donato 26:07

But, you know, I love how I love this movie has Kabu and his location. You're stuck on fucking New Haven.

He's stuck on Philly, is what he is, that is, which is fair, which is fair. You know, world fucking champs, right? You don't even like football. You don't even like football birds.

Speaker 2 26:25

I don't even like you. Take the wins you can get the black cars won for like, three years here in Chicago, and we're gonna hold on to that as long as we can get the balls for a little bit. And there was that little thing we did back in the 80s that was okay,

Speaker 2 26:39

we're gonna, we're gonna wear those hats until they fall apart. But Ansel, you did recently go to Philly, and you loved it. I did. I had a really great time. And not to get lost on the Philly thing, but I will say, until I went there, I imagined Philly being some island off in the middle of fucking nowhere. It wasn't until I got there that I was like, oh, all this shit is like, right over there. Okay,

Matt Donato 27:03

Philly's not as isolated as we all imagine it to be. No, no, we're not just out there floating on the Delaware River, unlike kabune, yeah, on a different River, yeah. Do we know what that river is? Matt, I'm sure I can find the name of it, and I did not look up prior, so in the moment, I don't, I just thought of that just now, like, I'm wondering, you know, if there's extra significance to the river itself, there's the praying to the Water God, and there's like that, again, the cultural relevance of how Japanese culture goes into that. I think that is way more important. But I'm looking it just seems to be that one river going through that part of Kyoto. So it's probably the kibune River. Yeah, according to legend, a goddess traveled in a boat from Osaka all the way up the river into the mountains of North Kyoto. Oh, so it is. It is imbued with some kind of magical power. Maybe let's, let's, let's go with that. I think we can go with itself having a tradition of magic, but also Japanese culture and just being way more open to prayer in that way. And, yeah, worship in that way. See, this is what happens when you get three Americans talking about a Japanese movie. Yeah, right, we're probably missing a lot of context. Oh yeah, my buddy Rob on the film commentary was the one that had all of like, the notes taken on that I'm color commentary. I'm fucking Tony. Robo,

yeah, yeah,

I'm the Taz, no, if we're going to AWS, I'm the Taz, you wish you were Taz, yeah. Ben Jones,

oh, I knew wrestling talk was gonna come up eventually. Of course, it's a requirement. If we recast river with only aw wrestlers who would in, my God, I'm kidding. We don't have to do that, but we can do that later. Next time we're drinking, we're gonna do that. There you go. Yeah,

guys, see the video of Leslie Jones at an AW match recently. Oh, my God, yes. So absolutely beautiful. So good, lovely human being. Hey, Ansel, did you see? Did you see, uh, aw, superstar, Mariah may tear down my outfit on the red carpet. I did. I saw the video you posted.

Ben Silverio 29:14

I love that video so much. That was very good. It's very good party, people. If you go to my Instagram, you will see Mariah made just days before her match with timeless Tony storm. It was a very fun video tearing me apart on the red carpet because I was wearing a Tony storm t

shirt. It was so fun, like before she like, moved on, you know, I mean, Kay Fabe, you know, broken right now, but it's like before she moved on from our interview, she like, gave me a wink and a smile, like I was just like, thank you so much for that.

I love being in on it, you know,

Matt Donato 29:50

I think that's the point. Isn't that the point? I mean, think that. I think that's what makes it fun. Yeah, right, whether it's wrestling or movies or comics or whatever, when you're you.

Ben Silverio 30:00

In on it. It makes it more fun, you know. So it's like you could keep asking, why do they need to shoot a time machine in order to send it back to its regular time? Or you can just accept that that's how they're going to do it and enjoy the movie

Speaker 2 30:16

I did. I did love how they Star Trek their way through that. They really did. We all got into a group and we went, Okay, what do we all know? All right, well, we need this. What about that? Okay, what about this? And then, and then we did it and and because everybody worked together and believed in each other and trusted we, we solved the the timey wimey, sci fi nonsense, the timing. Yeah, that's how it's done. That's how it's done. Yes. So the last question that we should ask after all of these films, because I guess sometimes we forget to do so.

Ben Silverio 30:55

Matt Ansel, I think I know the answer to this already. But would you say that river is worth your time.

Matt Donato 31:03

I would say that river is extremely worth your time. I don't know how else I could pitch it, based on what I've said already, but I will once again reiterate it was one of my favorite movies that came out in whatever year it released, and I will continue to re watch it. This again, is multiple re watches for this podcast and other things, and every time something else tickles me in a way that becomes my favorite joke, and then I watch it again, and then something else is my favorite joke. I'm always switching between things. So I I think this is a movie that will stand the test of time as long as it is seen, and it will continue to be talked about to spread the word like that. I think it's going to take a groundswell. It's going to take a while to do that, but it will continue to gain momentum, instead of just fading into obscurity. Yeah, I have to agree with you. I think this is one that's going to get better as time goes on, and I think people will continue to enjoy it. It's, it's, there's nothing about it that roots it so much in the now that it will lose its relevancy, it's gonna stay evergreen going forward.

Ansel Burch 32:09

And yeah, it was absolutely worth your time. I think honestly, it's worth my time twice, at least. I'm definitely gonna watch this a second time

Ben Silverio 32:17

as soon as I get an opportunity, because I'm gonna have to show this to some people. Oh, yeah, likewise, I did watch it once, initially to, like, go through all the research and everything that we do for the podcast. But then, like, I re watched parts of it again, just because I appreciated the cinematography, the storytelling. I mean, like that one moment when they're meeting for the first time when they're like, Okay, we're gonna have a meeting in this room. And then the camera circles around them and gets faster as time is running out in that loop, I'm just like, oh, what great visual language. And there's little bits of that I feel throughout the movie, whether it's the the amount of snow that's on the ground during each thing you know, just so many details that it absolutely is worth your time, but worth your time again and again and again,

Speaker 2 33:10

I did. I actually meant to ask you guys about the snow thing. How did you feel about that? Because for me, I thought that the amount of snow was a very intentional choice and that we were gonna learn something about, like, oh, well, some loops are different, or or time has actually been progressing, just not for you or something.

Matt Donato 33:31

I love that it was just like, No, it's just a production. Oopsie, we couldn't control how much snow was we yeah, we were filming that day.

That's what outside looked like, I don't know, right? It's just that charming touch, though, that y'all keep mentioning, and it, I think Ben like agreeing 100% like it's it's a chaotic film, but it's so composed. It is a hilarious film, but it's also super heartfelt. It takes itself never too seriously, but it also is such a sincere film, it just defies its own odds. Around every corner continues to evolve, and then when all is said and done, I will use the word delightful again. I don't get to use that that often we are I'm sick of living in unprecedented fucking times. Yes, this just feels nice, and it's good to feel nice whimsy.

Ben Silverio 34:19

We all need a little bit of that. We could certainly use more of it right now, especially here in the country where we currently are,

but party people again, check out River on Prime Video. Pick up the blu ray or DVD release. Listen to Matt's commentary on it.

But no matter how you do it, just watch this movie.

So, yeah, I think that's like the best thing that I could say about this. Please go watch this movie. Support an independent film. You know, please have watched this movie before you Burch us give it all away. Yes, I.

Unknown Speaker 35:00

But all right,

Unknown Speaker 35:02

that does it for our review of river

Unknown Speaker 35:05

God. It's such a good movie.

Speaker 2 35:08

You can find me on the internet. I'm at B silver 20 on Instagram, X blue sky letterbox and other stuff. Probably you could hit me at Donato bomb, D, O N, A, T, O B, O M, B on blue sky, Instagram and letterbox. You can find me at the indecisionist on all of the meta properties, as well as Reddit and blue sky and YouTube and probably other places. You can also check out my other podcast for the time being, and all the other projects I work on@indecisionist.com

Ben Silverio 35:41

Special thanks to April morralba for our podcast art and to Marlon longit of Marlon and the shakes for our amazing theme song. If you're still on a social media platform that uses hashtags, you can join the conversation by using the hashtag time to party. That's time the number two party as well as time the number two party. It's all spelled out thanks to Warwick. Ah, party people. We are gonna keep the party going because river deserves it, but also this is the format of our podcast. Next week,

next week, we'll be coming at you with some edutainment. So maybe you might learn something thanks to river, but not too much, but not too much. You know, we're very excited to have Matt Donato back next week. Tune in because, you know, you all need to tell him he's pretty. Yeah, do that, but don't, don't tell me about my commentary, because I don't know if it's good. We'll put a picture of his hair in the show notes so you can, there you go, yeah, so you can say it is. How pretty it looks right now out of the shower while you're admiring the angelic visage of Matt Donato, be excellent to each other, Guardian dudes.

Speaker 2 36:58

See now I know the song Curtis got there, came there a little late. I.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai