River

John Lake, an American volunteer doctor working in southern Laos, steps in when he sees a young woman being attacked. The confrontation with the assailant turns violent, and the next morning the man's body is recovered from the Mekong River. Lake remembers the night only in fragments, and the dead man turns out to be a tourist connected to a foreign senator. Fearing a Laotian prison more than anything else, Lake abandons his quarters and goes on the run, with the police close behind. Without money, papers or command of the language, he tries to cross the river into Thailand, while the question of what he actually did hangs over him.

River is a Canadian thriller directed and written by Jamie M. Dagg, his first feature before Sweet Virginia the following year. Rossif Sutherland plays Lake, with Sara Botsford, Ted Atherton, Douangmany Soliphanh, Amphaiphun Phommapunya and David Soncin in supporting roles. It was produced by Nick Sorbara and Mattie Do.

Released in March 2016 and running 95 minutes, the film drew a critics' rating of 6.8/10 from 12 reviews, higher than its audience scores of 6.1/10 on IMDb and 5.8/10 on TMDB. Those numbers suggest a thriller that reviewers found more accomplished than general viewers did, with a modest but real audience following.