The River (1997 film)

Hsiao-Kang (Lee Kang-sheng), a young man in his 20s, is going up an escalator in Taipei when he meets an old girlfriend of his (Chen Shiang-chyi). She convinces him to accompany her to a film shoot that she is working on. While eating lunch, Hsiao-Kang is spotted by the film's director (Ann Hui). The scene that they are currently shooting needs an actor to pretend to be a floating dead body in the river, Hsiao-Kang reluctantly agrees to step in. He lies face down in the dirty Tamsui River for a few seconds, pretending to be a dead body.

After the scene is completed, he and his old girlfriend get a room in a hotel so Hsiao-Kang can take a shower. The two then have sex. Hsiao-Kang drives home on his motorcycle and begins to feel some soreness in his neck. He eventually falls off the bike, and a man, later shown to be his father (Miao Tien), tries to help him up, but Hsiao-Kang ignores him and drives the rest of the way back. During the night, water from the room above leaks into his father’s bedroom; he tries using buckets but can’t fix it.

By that night, his neck pain is even worse. He goes to his mother (Lu Yi-ching), and she rubs some lotion on him. However, the pain does not go away. The family tries different methods of healing, including acupuncture, but nothing works, and Hsiao-Kang begins to wish he were dead. Meanwhile, it is apparent that the family is fractured, with communication problems. Hsiao-Kang's father regularly visits a bathhouse and has sexual encounters with other young men. The mother is having an affair with a pornographer.

Finally, Hsiao-Kang and his father travel to see a provincial healer. The healer is not able to foresee anything on their first visit, so they rent a hotel room. That night, they both go to the same bathhouse, separately. Hsiao-Kang eventually walks into his dad's room in the dark, and his father gives him a handjob. When his father turns the light on and sees his son, he slaps him, and Hsiao-Kang runs out. They meet back at the hotel room. Meanwhile his mother notices the leakage and fixes it by climbing to the upper floor where the source of the leakage is revealed to be a running faucet.

The next morning, the father receives a phone call from the healer, who says that he cannot help them. The father then wakes Hsiao-Kang up and says that they're leaving. Hsiao-Kang walks out onto the hotel room balcony, while clutching his neck and grimacing in pain.

• Lee Kang-sheng as Hsiao-Kang (小康 Xiǎokāng)
• Miao Tien as Father
• Lu Hsiao-ling as Mother
• Ann Huei as Film director
• Chen Shiang-chyi as Hsiao-Kang's girlfriend
• Chen Chao-jung as Young man at sauna
• Lu Chiao-lin as Mother's lover
• Yang Kuei-Mei as Girl in hotel

^[2][3]

The family configuration in this film also appeared in director Tsai Ming-liang's previous film, Rebels of the Neon God, and would appear again in What Time Is It There?, with the same three actors.^[1][4][5] Tsai decided to incorporate neck pain into The River when his star actor, Lee Kang-sheng, had a similar neck problem for nine months^[6] prior to shooting Tsai's Vive L'Amour. After Vive L'Amour was completed, they immediately began work on The River.^[7]

According to Tsai, he had a difficult time convincing actor Miao Tien (who plays the father) to appear in the film. Miao was reluctant because his character was homosexual. However, he eventually agreed to take the part and ended up doing some research for it by visiting gay bars and saunas.^[8]

The film was first released in 1997^[9] and opened in the United States in 2001.^[3]