I found this movie fairly enjoyable as I went into it with fairly low expectations from what I read on IMDb. The movie does a pretty good job of building suspense through a series of unfortunate events that seem plausible. I found the main actor to be pretty decent and likable, which is important because he's in 90% of the movie. The supporting characters aren't given much film time but that's OK given the nature of the film.A big bonus of the film for me was getting to see the exotic locations of Laos. I like films that can take me to another part of the world and immerse me in the culture of that area. This movie did a great job of that as it really made me feel like a foreigner.The ending is a bit anti-climatic but for the most part, the movie kept me interested up until the end.

"River" is a Laotian film about John Lake, an American doctor working in Laos, who intervenes in the sexual assault of a young woman by an Australian tourist. His efforts of intervening lead to him killing the Australian tourist, being mistakenly accused of sexually assaulting the woman, and having him being a wanted fugitive. The film is directed by first time Canadian director Jamie M. Dagg, who does one hell of a job with this film. The film takes its time to develop the character of John and then throws him in this crazy situation that he mistakenly got himself into. I felt so empathetic towards John because he wanted to do the right thing, and by doing so he accidentally kills a guy and is falsely accused of assaulting a woman. The story is very simple and has been done in many other films before but what makes "River" standout is its realism and Rossif Sutherland's performance as John. Sutherland brings so much energy to this role and does an excellent job being a frantic, scared, and innocent person.As the film continues and John is on the run you later find out who the Australian tourist is related to which adds a new level of extremity to the situation. There's not a lot to say about the film story wise, you have a man on the run and doing what he can to not get arrested for false causes. The performances are great, the direction is great, and the cinematography is overall very well.A couple issues I had with the film is that during some scenes when John is being chased or running the camera is very shaky. And at the last ten or so minutes of the film something is revealed about the situation John's in which causes our character to make an action that didn't sit too well with me. Overall "River" is a wonderful directorial debut for Jamie Dagg, which displays great performances from Rossif Sutherland, and all of the cast as well. I'm looking forward to what this talented young man will do next.

The plot is about as real Oriental tense, moral, misunderstanding, desperation, chase scene as I have seen. Sutherland's character, John, is caught in dilemma after attempting to solver another related dilemma in the rescuing of a victim at the hands of an Aussie Gov. son rape victim. The victim wakes up? and mistakenly identifies John as the rapist or politicians son murderer, not perfectly sure as it wasn't quite clear until the movie end. WHICH brings me to the seven star versus Ten Star rating,SPOILER ALERT ... READ NO FURTHERthe ending is just conjecture and after all the gut wrenching, nerve wracked, suspenseful drama deserved to have a few typed lines on the screen regarding his turning away from a lucky change of fate resulting in certain transport back to the safety of the U.But no, John, in order to AGAIN rescue, via testimony, the rape victim who is now pegged as the politician sons murderer jumps bail and buys a ticket back to Laos! We are left to assume the worst for John as the language barrier, chain of events foretell gloom and doom, not at all a happy ending nor is the ending fully fleshed out by any means. Viewer opinion only ... Great Great Movie ... Bad not Terrible Ending. Seven Stars... for full on acting by Sutherland.

An American volunteer doctor becomes a fugitive in the south of Laos after he intervenes in the sexual assault of a young woman, after advising the assailant that the young woman had already had enough to drink.When the assailant's body is pulled from the Mekong River, things quickly spiral out of control, when it is discovered that he was an Austrailian senators son.....The film could be a subliminal warning for a lot of things. Travelling alone, getting drunk alone in a strange place, intervening in what isn't your business, even though what you are doing is admirable.It just seems that I spent the duration of the film cursing the main character, John for making some really silly, irrational decisions.But this isn't a criticism of the film, it was more like me thinking to myself 'Oh well done in doing that/leaving there/lying to them, now i'm going to be on the edge of my seat again for the next ten minutes'.Because the film doesn't really give you any information on John, other that he is a Surgeon, and a bit of a maverick one at that, it really does put you into his situation.Would you really put your hands up straightaway and admit what you have done, even though you know it was the right thing to do, because of the language barrier, the intensity of everyone due to the events of the narrative, and having that limited knowledge of the justice system, and how execution is rife, regardless of what the circumstances surrounding the event may have? It's a tense 85 minutes, Sutherland may have the acting gusto yet of that of his father, or step-brother, because by the beginning of the second act, he's a nervous wreck, and you really feel for the guy as he wanders aimlessly from place to place, becoming more and more desperate, as time is inevitably running out for him.There are two jaw dropping scenes that nearly made turn away from the film.He asks a man for a ride on his boat, and due to the language barrier, there is a little bit of confusion at precisely the wrong time, and the silliest thing he does of all, get into a car in the middle of nowhere, very late at night.It's sometimes an ordeal to get through, but it stays on the right side of tense, and doesn't quite push you over that proverbial seat edge.The final ten minutes goes a little off track, huge plot holes are explained in a 'don't worry about it' sort of way, and the final scene in the train station really did make me chuckle, as ninety percent of the background extras appeared to be Tibetan monk, which I deciphered as the writer subtly saying to the audience 'he's doing the right thing, it's a karma thing'.But other than that, it's a really tense film, with some very unsettling locations, and thank heavens it was made as an independent movie, because this could have easily have been made with Matt Damon, and turned into a Bourne like thriller.Because that would have taken any sense of urgency or realism away from it.