The River King

The River King
Directed by	Nick Willing
Produced by	Michele Camarda Michael Cowan Jason Piette Marion Pilowsky Christopher Zimmer
Written by	Novel Alice Hoffman Screenplay David Kane
Starring	Edward Burns Rachelle Lefèvre Jennifer Ehle
Music by	Simon Boswell
Cinematography	Paul Sarossy
Edited by	Jon Gregory
Distributed by	Kismet Film Company
Release date	October 21, 2005
Running time	99 minutes
Country	Canada United Kingdom
Language	English

The River King is a 2005 film directed by Nick Willing and starring Edward Burns, Rachelle Lefèvre and Jennifer Ehle as a policeman, student and teacher all searching for the truth behind the apparent suicide of a young man at a small private school.^[1] Lefevre plays Carlin Leander, the young man's only real friend, who is now haunted by memories of their increasingly difficult relationship.

The film is based the novel The River King by Alice Hoffman.^[1]

Plot

Haddan School, present day. The body of GUS PIERCE a seventeen year old pupil is discovered in a frozen river. Detective ABEL GREY, the local small town cop makes inquiries at the school, is told that Gus was a loner, often depressed and alienated. Everything and everyone points to suicide. Everyone except CARLIN, Gus’s only close friend, who refuses to believe that he would kill himself - strong feelings bourn out of grief; something Abel understands well. He too lost his a loved one to suicide - his brother shot himself when still a boy. Abel has always blamed himself for his brother’s death and lived in a sort of emotional limbo ever since, incapable to forming a proper relationship, living a full life.

Perhaps that is why he takes it upon himself to dig deeper, investigate a little more vigorously than his superiors and Haddan School want. His only ally within the faculty is BETSY, a teacher and amateur photographer, who Abel asks to take forensic pictures of Gus’s room. Pictures which reveal an odd, unexplainable shape sitting on the bed …

When Abel asks others about the photographs he discovers that no one else sees the apparition. In fact only he and Betsy see it., perhaps a symptom of a growing connection between them. Although Betsy is engaged to Haddan’s Principle ERIC HERMAN… Nevertheless she is so overwhelmed by the attraction to Abel that she allows herself to fall into a passionate affair.

References

External links

• The River King on IMDb
• The River King at Rotten Tomatoes