Suspicious River Review

Leila Murray is a motel receptionist selling her body to the motel guests and hiding a dark secret deep within her that could be released by the vicious redneck drifter who enters her life.

by Patrick Peters |
Published on
Release Date:

31 Aug 2001

Running Time:

92 minutes

Certificate:

18

Original Title:

Suspicious River

Having elicited a suitably scandalous reaction to her debut, Kissed, Lynne Stopkewich attempts to repeat the trick with this small-town study of sado-masochism. What's surprising is not that she fails, but by how wide a margin.

Molly Parker sleepwalks through her performance as a motel receptionist who may have suffered childhood abuse, which might be the reason why she so readily services her customers. What's less evident is why she should subject herself to the vicious attentions of redneck drifter Callum Keith Rennie.

A parallel story about a little girl caught up in her mother's infidelity is supposed to supply clues. Rarely has cinematic sex seemed so sinister. But Stopkewich is too obsessed with her shock tactics to bother exploring such a potentially fascinating issue.

A disappointing but surprisingly watchable film.
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