The River

Written and directed by Tsai Ming-liang (What Time Is It There?), this mesmerizing 1997 minimalist drama unfolds at a deliberate pace, with long takes and spare dialogue. Lee Kang-sheng stars as an aimless young man who agrees to help out a film crew by appearing as a floating dead body. But the water is polluted, and he is left with an agonizing, debilitating pain in his neck, for which there seems to be no cure. Meanwhile, his father cruises gay bathhouses (leading to a shocking, darkly comic scene like something out of a Todd Solondz movie) and grapples with a leak from an upstairs apartment. And mom? She's involved with a purveyor of adult videos. As a portrait of existential angst (the son's affliction echoes Julianne Moore's in Safe), The River flows with haunting images, and while the narrative is sometimes challenging, the film is ultimately rewarding. Recommended. (K. Lee Benson)