So much average

Perfect cast and a good story

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said; "You can never step in the same river twice". He meant that time is always moving, the river flows and is ever-changing. This movie looks back for a group of people and asks them to come to terms with where they are in the river of life relative to their real time spent on the river.The question is - did they ever really leave and what was lost and what was found?There is one character who does not leave and he is the core of the film - the person they left behind. There is a hint of tragedy, which is left unsaid, but may have been part of the earlier film. You cannot help but feel that many would like to go back, but each person in their own way has accepted their path.

This is the movie of all of us in a lot of ways. It follows life from the carefree and uninhibited days of twentysomething to the burdens of fortysomething. With one exception, each of the half-dozen river guides of the 70's grew up, settled down and became entangled in the humdrum, perplexities and small successes of adulthood. Yet in watching film of themselves mostly naked and carefree 20 years earlier there's little wistfulness, nostalgia or regret for the loss of youthful abandon. That was then, this is now. As one woman said, "we did it because we could." But most people can't do it forever and these former river rats have largely found as much adjustment and peace amid mortgages and child-raising as they did floating through the Grand Canyon.One of the most interesting aspects is the fact that three of them have held elected office, and in fact two are mayors of their small towns. Not what anyone would expect watching them negotiating rafts through the rapids in the early footage.The filmmakers, and particularly the editor, did a masterful job of letting characters in his documentary reveal themselves. It's a compelling film, not as powerful as "When We Were Kings" or "Don't Look Back", but nonetheless a strong and worthy effort. It was highly recommended by the New York Times reviewer and I concur wholeheartedly. No doubt will be appreciated by middle-aged people who, like myself, were lucky enough to have a few years of completely uninhibited life before being drawn into much more conventional settings.I was surprised to even find this movie at the video store because it never really found distribution outside the film festivals. You may have to dig around for it but it'll be well worth your trouble. A good, solid eight.(I have sympathy for the kinds of people who watch this movie and can only focus on the nudity.)

In this documentary, we look at a rafting trip from 20 years ago, and the bearded nudists that were on it do, too, and we examine how their lives have changed. The one hippie who's remained true to his late '70s lifestyle is just plain eccentric and weird now, spending his time in the bush with plans to build a tiny house. The rest of the rafters have become middle-aged family people. You couldn't say the movie is full of revelations or profundity, but it's slow and honest. For me, I thought the most interesting thing was watching how these aging hippies acted around their children, who would probably never know their parents used mescaline and climbed canyon-sides naked. 8/10

The message of "The Same River Twice" is you're only young once, so you better enjoy it. Watching the five main characters when they're young in 1978 on a nudist rafting trip in the Grand Canyon, and then picking up on where they're at 20 plus years later, is alternately sad and fascinating. The two women, Danny and Cathy, are just amazingly beautiful when they are young, I could watch Danny walk around in the nude all day! Danny keeps her youthful physique into her late 40s when we see her later, whereas time seems to be a little rougher on Cathy. All 5 characters, Danny, Jeff, Cathy, Barry, and Jim, seem to lead rather pleasant lives as they enter their 50s. But their youth is gone, and it's kind of sad. This is the kind of documentary you'd only watch once (it's no "Crumb"), but once is enough.