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Staff Favorite

Overall: 8
Story: 7
Animation: 7
Cinematography: 9
Effects: 7
Sound: 9
Music: 9

The River

Directed By: Nikolas Jaeger

Genre: Drama
Length: 07:00
Released: July 27th, 2009

Content Advisory:  mild language.

Director's Comments

I wrote the script for this back in May and June, and filmed for almost two weeks straight in July.

A lot of people have asked me about the plot. The truth is that while individual events aren't vague (for example, the natives are my imagining of the North American mound culture), the entire film isn't really supposed to have a definite "truth" to it, let alone have a meaning or message. It certainly isn't religious, though I think I wanted it to have a certain mystical quality to it.

There were a lot of different influences for this; I think some of the strongest were Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, Werner Herzog's Aguirre, The Wrath of God, and Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man.

Staff Review

Jay Harris:
Nikolas Jaegar has quite the portfolio of visually stunning brickfilms, so I dove into The River expecting a lot. (Couldn't resist the pun, mate) It doesn't disappoint. Gorgeous from the opening shot, this is a must-see for any brickfilmer. Beautifully lit and filmed, its biggest success is in creating the amazing, haunting moods that run through its seven-minute length. The sound design, which is phenomenal, plays a large part in this. Overall, there is no doubt that Nikolas has a well-trained eye for his craft. Certainly worth watching more than once.

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