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The Same River Twice (2003)
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Reviews Counted:14
Fresh:10
Rotten:4
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: An insightful documentary about the passage of time for a group free spirits.
Theatrical Release:Sep 10, 2003 Limited
Synopsis: In THE SAME RIVER TWICE, director/writer/producer Robb Moss tells a true story that takes place across two separate decades: the 1970s, when Moss and a group of long-haired, free-spirited friends... In THE SAME RIVER TWICE, director/writer/producer Robb Moss tells a true story that takes place across two separate decades: the 1970s, when Moss and a group of long-haired, free-spirited friends spent a summer rafting and camping along the Colorado River; and the 2000s, when he revisits the friends who have come through the other side of their counterculture youths and into adulthood. By interspersing reels from the original '70s river trip and documentary footage taken 30-some years later, river guide Jim and fellow travelers Barry, Jeff, Cathy, and Danny are seen both as young, idealistic (and often naked) travelers and older (fully clothed) men and women, some of whom have held onto the counterculture's ideals more than others. Moss often films his grown-up subjects as they watch their younger selves on the screen, capturing genuine moments of memory and reflection. [More]
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Reviews for The Same River Twice
At its core, The Same River Twice is about a process everyone goes through, and the recognition that change is inevitable and we can't be young forever.
Other documentaries have crisscrossed between time frames, but Moss' beguiling The Same River Twice represents one of the most effective uses of the device.
The movie's then-and-now approach proves reasonably interesting, but Same River doesn't dig deeply enough to provide us with more than a series of passing views.
The documentary The Same River Twice will ring startlingly true to any ski bum who ever went legit.
Succeeds through articulate, nostalgic sequences of introspection linked by poetic camerawork.
Most of the river rats have achieved lives that they would call happy, but watching their reactions while they view footage of their carefree younger selves will put a lump in many throats.
A river does indeed run through The Same River Twice, and it's rather shallower than director Robb Moss seems to think.
Ultimately unsatisfying then-and-now look at some late-'70s free spirits.
If you can get past the Big Chill setup, there is a fine piece of moviemaking here.
It would make a worthy entry on public TV, but just doesn't have the heft for a theatrical release.
A piercingly poignant then-and-now portrait of five friends who worked as summer guides on the Colorado River in the 1970's.
It's a generous document of cultural passage, and not incidentally, the sexiest naturally nudist American movie since Murnau's Tabu.
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| 45% 45% | Shorts |
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