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The River ()

He liu (original title)
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A young man develops severe neck pain after swimming in a polluted river; his dysfunctional parents are unable to provide any relief for him or themselves.
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Complete, Cast awaiting verification

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Father (as Tien Miao)
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Hsiao-Kang
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Mother (as Hsiao-Ling Lu)
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Director (as Anne Hui)
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Girl
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Anonymous Man (as Chao-jung Chen)
Shiao-Lin Lu ...
Mother's lover (as Long Chang)
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Girl in Hotel

Directed by

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Tsai Ming-liang ... (as Ming-liang Tsai)

Written by

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Tsai Ming-liang ... () (as Ming-liang Tsai)
 
Yi-chun Tsai ... ()
 
Pi-ying Yang ... ()

Produced by

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Shun-Ching Chiu ... producer
Hu-pin Chung ... executive producer
Li-Kong Hsu ... producer
Shih-Yuan Lin ... line producer
Shih-Fang Wang ... associate producer

Cinematography by

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Pen-Jung Liao

Editing by

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Sheng-Chang Chen
Chen-Ching Lei

Production Design by

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Tony Lan

Art Direction by

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Pao-Lin Lee

Set Decoration by

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Nien-Chiu Cheng
Mu-Shan Kuo

Costume Design by

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Yu Wang

Makeup Department

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Zenia Chou ... hair stylist / makeup artist
Pei-Wen Yen ... additional hair stylist / additional makeup artist

Production Management

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Chih-ming Huang ... production manager
Hui-Chin Lin ... production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

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Pei-Chun Chen ... assistant director
Ming-Tai Wang ... assistant director

Sound Department

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Din-I Hu ... foley artist
Dennis Tsao ... foley artist (as Yuan-Feng Tsao)
Ching-an Yang ... production sound mixer

Costume and Wardrobe Department

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Marie Chao ... wardrobe mistress

Script and Continuity Department

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Helen Dei ... script supervisor

Additional Crew

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San-Ling Chang ... overseas coordinator
Yi-Mei Luo ... overseas coordinator

Production Companies

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Distributors

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Special Effects

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Other Companies

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Storyline

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Plot Summary

In Taiwan, Xiao-kang, a young man in his early 20s, lives with his parents in near silence. He is plagued by severe neck pain. His father is bedeviled by water first leaking into his bedroom and then flooding the apartment; rain is incessant. Xiao-kang's mother is overcome by sexual longing for her son, sometimes making seemingly incestuous overtures. They try virtually every intervention for Xiao-kang's neck: Western medicine, a chiropractor, acupuncture, an herbal doctor, and a faith healer, Master Liu. Are the family's silent dynamics and Xiao-kang's neck pain connected? And what about the body floating in the Tamsui River: is everything dead? Written by

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Additional Details

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Also Known As
  • 河流 (Taiwan)
  • The River (Canada, English title)
  • The River (World-wide, English title)
  • The River (United States)
  • La rivière (France)
  • See more »
Runtime
  • 115 min
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Did You Know?

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Trivia On the set of Vive L'Amour, whose production immediately preceded The River, star Lee Kang-sheng dealt with chronic neck pains which inspired this film. See more »
Movie Connections Follows Rebels of the Neon God (1992). See more »
Quotes Girl: Hsiao-kang, I want to go pee. Could you turn off the lights?
[Hsiao-kang turns off the lights]
Girl: The curtains, too.
See more »
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