The River

The River

1997 · 116 min · ★ 6.8 · Drama, Romance

A young man develops severe neck pain after swimming in a polluted river for a movie shoot, but nobody can provide him any relief.

Directed by Tsai Ming-liang · Written by Tsai Ming-liang

Your Rating

Cast

Lee Kang-sheng Hsiao-Kang
Miao Tian Father
Lu Yi-ching Mother
Chen Shiang-Chyi Hsiao-Kang's Girlfriend
Ann Hui Film Director
Chen Chao-jung Anonymous Man
Yang Kuei-mei Woman in Hotel
Lin Hsiao-Lan Mother
Zhang Long Mother's Lover

Make it a double feature

3h 42m together

The River

Rebels of the Neon God

Both from Tsai Ming-liang.

More from Tsai Ming-liangSee all →

Dust

MovieDocumentaryDrama

He wanders around the Comb of the Wind, where the sea rises and breaks against the shore. Along the way, he passes an old Basque farmhouse, a silent man, a woman drinking water, a woman smoking, punks gathered in a rock bar, and people in the ancient city at sunset. The Diamond Sutra speaks of all living beings in these words: "Specks of dust are not specks of dust; therefore, they are called specks of dust".

Back Home

Back Home · 2025

MovieDocumentary

Tsai Ming-liang's new film, Back Home, depicts Anong Houngheuangsy and the daily life of his home village in Laos. We witness buildings in varying states of habitation and disrepair, farm animals, rice fields, religious sites, domestic scenes, a sun-dappled food market, and a dog adorably trying (and failing) to escape a carnival ride.

Rebels of the Neon God

Rebels of the Neon God · 1994

Rebels of the Neon God

MovieDramaCrime

In Taipei, four youths face alienation, loneliness, and moments of existential crisis amidst a series of minor crimes.

Vive L'Amour

Vive L'Amour · 1994

Three lonely young denizens of Taipei unknowingly share an apartment: May, a real estate agent who uses it for her sexual affairs; Ah-jung, her current lover; and Hsiao-kang, who's stolen the key and uses the apartment as a retreat.

The Hole

The Hole · 1998

MovieDramaRomance

In the final days of the year 1999, almost everyone in Taiwan has died from a strange plague that ravished the island. As rain pours down relentlessly, a single man is stuck with an unfinished plumbing job and a hole in his floor. This results in a very odd relationship with the woman who lives below him.

What Time Is It There?

What Time Is It There? · 2001

What Time Is It There?

A street vendor with a grim home-life forges a connection with a young woman on her way to Paris.

Abiding Nowhere

Abiding Nowhere · 2024

Abiding Nowhere

MovieDramaDocumentary

The walker with the shaved head and dressed in a red robe is barefoot. He walks slowly but determinedly through the forest, over stones and grassland. He also makes his way through the shadows of trees and houses. He sets foot in the train station, the church and the museum. The sun rises and sets again. The walker passes through Washington, D.C. Another stranger is also on the move in the city. We are unsure whether or not he is following the walker.

Goodbye, Dragon Inn

Goodbye, Dragon Inn · 2003

Goodbye, Dragon Inn

On a dark, wet night in Taipei City, a cavernous old picture palace is about to close its doors forever. A meager audience, the remaining few staff, and perhaps even a ghost or two, watch King Hu’s wuxia classic "Dragon Inn", each haunted by memories and desires evoked by cinema itself.

Wandering

Wandering · 2021

This short by Tsai Ming-liang, completed in 2021, was filmed at "the Dune" in Yilan, Taiwan, where the eight films in his Walker series were being shown.

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone · 2006

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone

MovieDramaRomance

Rawang, an immigrant from Bangladesh living in awful conditions, takes pity on a Chinese man, Hsiao-kang, who is beaten up and left in the street. Rawang lovingly nurses him on a mattress he found. When he is almost healed, Hsiao-kang meets the waitress Chyi. His love for Rawang is put to the test.

Single Belief

Single Belief · 2016

Ximending was once the trendiest area in Taipei, and it's also where Kang-sheng Lee's first film was shot. Twenty years ago, director Ming-liang Tsai asked Lee if he wanted to be in his film, and Lee's answer changed the course of his own life forever. Now Lee returns to where his career began to shoot a film about himself.

To Each His Own Cinema

To Each His Own Cinema · 2007

To Each His Own Cinema

MovieComedyDrama

Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.

Days

Kang lives alone in a big house, Non in a small apartment in town. They meet, and then part, their days flowing on as before.

Journey to the West

Journey to the West · 2014

Journey to the West

In 2014, Tsai Ming-Liang was invited to make a film for the MarseilleFID, Marseille International Film Festival. Since he was not familiar with Marseille, he decided to make a film as tourist, capturing the beautiful Mediterranean sunshine in the late summer of that year. He also invited famous French actor, Denis Lavant, to appear alongside Lee Kang-Sheng playing Xuanzang. "Journey to the West" was invited to be the opening short film at the Berlin International Film Festival the same year.

The Game They Call Sex

The Game They Call Sex · 1987

The Game They Call Sex

MovieRomanceDrama

Xiao-Min, engaged before finishing high school, finds herself trapped in a loveless, sexless marriage, with her curiosity about the world unfulfilled. Her monotonous life as a housewife is disrupted by a young intruder, sparking change. Following her divorce, she faces loneliness and confusion about intimacy. What path will she choose now?

Stray Dogs

Stray Dogs · 2014

An alcoholic man and his two young children barely survive in Taipei. They cross paths with a lonely grocery clerk who might help them make a better life.

More Like This

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Kiss of the Spider Woman · 1985

Kiss of the Spider Woman

The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills their lonely nights by spinning romantic fantasies drawn from memories of old movies.

Peter's Friends

Peter's Friends · 1992

Peter's Friends

MovieComedyDrama

After inheriting a large country estate from his late father, Peter invites his friends from college: married couple Roger and Mary, the lonely Maggie, fashionable Sarah, and writer Andrew, who brings his American TV star wife, Carol. Sarah's new boyfriend, Brian, also attends. It has been 10 years since college, and they find their lives are very different.

Narcissus and Goldmund

Narcissus and Goldmund · 2020

Narcissus and Goldmund

MovieDramaHistory

In the dark middle ages, young unruly Goldmund is sent to a monastery by his father to atone for the sins of his mother, who abandoned them. There, he meets Narcissus, a brilliant, scholarly novice who is introverted and aloof. A unique and deep life-long friendship is born. Narcissus chooses to remain detached from the world in prayer and meditation. Goldmund, passionate, sensual and impulsive, runs away from the monastery to live a picaresque wanderer’s life, his amorous and artistic adventures leading him to discover the extremes of both ecstasy and pain. Several thrilling years pass until one day these friends cross paths again...

Tropical Malady

Tropical Malady · 2004

Tropical Malady

MovieDramaRomance

A romance between a soldier and country boy is ruptured by the boy’s sudden disappearance. Their story turns into a mythical venture based on Thai folklore.

The Cakemaker

The Cakemaker · 2017

Thomas, a young German baker, is having an affair with Oren, an Israeli married man who has frequent business visits in Berlin. When Oren dies in a car crash in Israel, Thomas travels to Jerusalem seeking for answers regarding his death. Under a fabricated identity, Thomas infiltrates the life of Anat, his lover’s newly widowed wife, who owns a small Café in downtown Jerusalem. Thomas starts to work for her, creating German cakes and cookies that bring her Café to life. Thomas finds himself involved in Anat’s life in a way far beyond his anticipation. To protect the truth he will stretch his lie to a point of no return.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter