River is a 2021 Australian documentary film, co-written, co-produced and directed by Jennifer Peedom. It is a follow-up to Mountain.[4]
| River | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jennifer Peedom Joseph Nizeti |
| Written by | Robert Macfarlane Jennifer Peedom Joseph Nizeti |
| Produced by | Jo-Anne McGowan Jennifer Peedom John Smithson |
| Narrated by | Willem Dafoe |
| Cinematography | Yann Arthus-Bertrand Ben Knight Dan Lior Peter McBride Danny McGee Renan Ozturk |
| Edited by | Simon Njoo |
| Music by | Richard Tognetti William Barton Piers Burbrook de Vere |
Production company | Stranger Than Fiction Films |
| Distributed by | |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 75 min. |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
Cast
edit- Willem Dafoe, as the narrator[4]
Critical response
editOn review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 24 reviews.[5] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".[6]
Sandra Hall from The Sydney Morning Herald gave the film four stars and called it "a hypnotic experience – and an audacious one – given the film’s stately pace and scorn for action, suspense and all the other conventional narrative devices." continuing "But it’s put together with such a finely tuned instinct for the sensuous power of the earth’s splendours that it’s very seductive."[7]
Writing in the Austin Chronicle Richard Whittaker gave 3 1/2 stars concluding "Yes, River flows in the wake of other documentaries, and some have called it redundant. But it is rather another drop in the flood of documentaries, and without all those drops, especially one so beautiful and challenging, there will never be any erosion of our antipathy to change. If the purpose of Mountain was to humble the viewer, then River is intended to quietly terrify us. Maybe that's exactly what we need."[8]
Michael Hogan from The Telegraph gave the film one out of five stars finishing "This wasn’t meditative enough to qualify as “Slow TV”, partly because neither Dafoe nor the musicians would pipe down. By the time the credits rolled on River, I wanted to throw myself into the nearest one."[9]
Awards
edit- 12th AACTA Awards
- Best Feature Length Documentary - Jennifer Peedom, Joseph Nizeti, Jo-anne McGowan, John Smithson - won[10]
- Best Original Music Score in a Documentary - Richard Tognetti, William Barton, Piers Burbrook de Vere - won[10]
- Best Editing in a Documentary - Simon Njoo - nominated[11]
- Best Sound in a Documentary – Tara Webb, Robert Mackenzie - nominated[11]
References
edit- ^ Keast, Jackie (13 July 2021). "MIFF unveils full 2021 line-up". IF Magazine. The Intermedia Group. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ Jenkin, Matthew (16 March 2022). "River: Behind The Scenes". Screen Australia. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ Knox, David (12 July 2022). "Airdate: River". TV Tonight. TV Tonight. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ a b Jefferson, Dee (24 March 2022), "River: Australian documentary narrated by Willem Dafoe highlights the importance and precarity of rivers worldwide", ABC News
- ^ "River". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
- ^ "River 2023". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
- ^ Hall, Sandra (23 March 2022), "Hypnotic and spectacular, River demands you surrender to the Earth's beauty", The Sydney Morning Herald
- ^ Whittaker, Richard (21 April 2023), "River", The Austin Chronicle
- ^ Hogan, Michael (25 July 2022), "River, review: dreary enough to put you off nature documentaries – and rivers – for life", The Telegraph
- ^ a b Kelly, Vivienne (5 December 2022), "AACTA Industry Awards: 2022 Winners", Variety
- ^ a b Keast, Jackie (20 October 2022), "'Elvis', 'Mystery Road: Origin' lead AACTA technical craft nominees", if
- ^ "Baker Boy claims five ARIAs as First Nations talent shine at Australian music's biggest night", NITV Arts, 25 November 2022
External links
edit- Official website
- River on ABC iview
- River at IMDb