River

Set mostly in Laos, this movie maintains a decent amount of tension and suspense, but some of its plot elements really defy logic. Don't expect any character development here, as the film is nearly exclusively an "on the lam" type flick.

Rossif Sutherland (son of Donald) stars as Dr. John Lake, who's working at a NGO clinic in Vientiane, Laos. After disobeying the orders of the chief physician (Sara Botsford) in the operating room (containing some very graphic and bloody scenes), he's asked to take some time off to clear his mind.

Traveling to southern Laos, John ends up in a physical altercation with an Australian man, (the son of an Australian Senator), whereby the Australian man is killed. While being questioned by the Laotian police, John panics and flees,and the remainder of the movie will focus on his attempts to escape capture, all leading to an ending that, in my opinion, really stretched credibility.

All in all, this movie, written and directed by first time Canadian filmmaker Jamie M. Dagg, maintained enough suspense to keep me interested to the end, as I wondered how it would all turn out. However, as mentioned there is no character development and some of the plot machinations were just too nonsensical for me to swallow.

A North American doctor working in Laos accidentally kills an Australian man who has just raped a local woman. He then flees the authorities, while the situation is made worse for him by the revelation that the man he killed is a senator's son.

This independent Canadian/Laos co-production is a chase thriller that stars Donald Sutherland's son Rossif Sutherland. He is in every scene and is pretty good in it, conveying the worrying scenario his character finds himself in convincingly. The story itself is quite spare with no wastage whatsoever. It moves at a very good pace, which I suppose you would expect from a chase film and it does build up some decent suspense at times. What takes it up to another level though is the setting. Not too many films are set in Laos and the exotic locales make for a very pleasing backdrop to events. Aside from this there is perhaps nothing particularly out of the ordinary in this one but it still works very well and is overall a well-executed, lean thriller.

John Lake (Rossif Sutherland) is a doctor working for an NGO in Laos when he gets told to take some time off after a bit of 'stress' in the work place. So he heads to a peaceful part of the country for some 'r and r'. Then he sees a sexual assault taking place between a tourist and a local girl. He intervenes – and it does not take very long for things to go very bad, very quickly.

Now that is the synopsis and to say anymore would be a bit of a plot spoiler, however this is a thriller so you know that there is going to be a lot more to this than just the above. And it manages the thriller part really well; the acting is all very good too as is the direction.

This is one of those films that goes for down to earth realism rather than sensationalism and that helps it achieve the necessary level of authenticity that means that I, for one, was able to empathise with the characters and engage more deeply. This is one of those films that seem to have slipped by unnoticed, which is a pity as this is one that is very much worth checking out.

American volunteer doctor John Lake (Rossif Sutherland) works with Dr. Stephanie Novella (Sara Botsford) in a rural Laos medical clinic. He's on a holiday in the south when he comes upon a Australian tourist assaulting an unconscious local woman. He's drunk and things spiral out of control.

This needs a bit more setup on why he would be so afraid of the local police. He's running right from the start and that needs some explaining. I'm willing to buy it to some extent but it would help to give him more reasons to run. He's overdoing the jitteriness. He's running without a plan. He's running without a reason sometimes. He's not running from the American government which was my greatest hope for an explanation. Even if he gets back to the US, he'll be extradited back to Laos or Australia under the political pressure. I don't think he's doing rational things unless the movie explains itself better. I do like the exotic locations and I also like the redemptive ending although it's a little too late.

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.