Sonthar Gyal’s ability to understand the psyche of children was already obvious since this second film of his, which, once again, features a change in focus that allows him to present more comments and enhance others.

“River” is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema 2020

Guru is a man in trouble. His continuous issues with his father, a man whom the rest of the community cherishes for his meditative ways, has led him to become almost a pariah, not to mention getting completely drunk frequently, and making a number of bad decisions. In one of those decisions, in order to avoid the criticism for his treatment of his father, he takes his pregnant wife and his daughter Yangjin to the summer pastures much earlier in the season than he should. His decision creates a number of problems, while his attitude soon begins to take a significant toll on both his wife and his daughter, whom the second part of the film focuses on.

Sonthal Gyal begins the film with the focus being on Guru, presenting a man who is troubled due to his relationship with his family, but also due to his immaturity, which frequently leads him to childish behavior. In the second part, and via the consequences of his actions, the focus changes to Yangjin, and this is where the movie truly picks up. Gyal presents the life of a child who sees the whole world crumble in front of her, in the most impressive manner. The upcoming baby threatens her exclusiveness to her parent’s attention and love, and when her mother tells her that she will have to share her toys, Yangjin really cannot handle it, although her decision regarding the teddy bear is proven quite different in the end than what it seemed in the beginning. Furthermore, her father’s erratic behavior also alienates her in a way, while she also cannot understand why he does not let her have a connection with her grandfather. The bullying of some local kids make things even worse, and the girl soon finds herself completely attached to a sheep whose mother was killed by wolves, in an adorable but also doomed to fail relationship.

The fact that the reasons behind Guru’s behavior are gradually revealed allow the narrative to stay interesting as they also add an intriguing twist, but at the same time, I felt that his behavior remained unexplained for too long, and that the film could also benefit from some trimming in its duration, as there are some moments where it just seems to lag.

On the other hand, the combination of all of the aforementioned relationships shows the generational gap that seems to torture Tibet at the moment, in a subtle, but also eloquent fashion, with the same applying to the depiction of the place of women in Tibetan society.

Furthermore, the presentation of all the phases Yangjin goes through and the impact her father’s childish behavior has on her is exceptional, as it benefits equally from Gyal’s direction, Yangchan Lhamo’s acting and Meng Wang’s cinematography, whose portrayal of her many mood swings is one of the most entertaining parts of the film, particularly the ones who show her angry in a style that could even be attributed to a gangster. Jinlei Kong’s editing implements a slow pace that suits the film’s aesthetics, in distinct art-house fashion, although, as I mentioned before, a bit of trimming would benefit the film.

“River” is an interesting film that manages to communicate Gyal’s comments eloquently and to highlight his knowledge about the children’s way of thinking. However, his command of the medium seems to be a bit off, and I would definitely place it in a lower level than “Ala Changso”.