Naked in the River of Time

One of the many truths made plain in Robb Moss’s new documentary, “The Bend In The River,” is that nudity is a privilege of the young. The film is part of a series detailing the lives and adventures of five friends over the course of close to fifty years. Its precursors, “Riverdogs,” filmed in 1978 but released in 1982, and “The Same River Twice” (2003), will shepherd in the Film Forum premiere of what may or may not be the final part of a trilogy. Where will you be in 2046? It’s a question brought up by one of the movie’s subjects, Danny Silver, who is now in her seventies.Oh, yes: The nudity. “The Bend in the River” culls footage from the first film in which we follow a group of twenty-somethings on a “clothing optional” sojourn on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Ms. Silver looks great in the altogether, as do her pals, men and women alike. The wife of Barry Wasserman, dubbed Deborah #2 by her once skinny-dipping husband, reflects on the vagaries of getting older while seated at the dining room table. “To me,” she says, “all young people are beautiful. All of them.” Readers of a certain age will likely nod in agreement.We learn about Mr. Wasserman’s first wife, Deborah #1, as he relates commonalities between the two women that are unlikely enough to underscore the cliche about truth being stranger than fiction. Mostly, however, “The Bend In The River” iterates verities of a fairly standard sort, about the idealism of youth and, especially, the tempering realizations that arise from the march of time. “By middle age,” as Mr. Moss said an interview with the International Documentary Association, “your choices are inscribed in every step you take, something the camera can see, even if we cannot.” And the camera can be unforgiving. Getting old is one thing, but what about those choices? The participants of Mr. Moss’s movies have come a long way since clambering up the side of a rock face without a stitch of clothing or a good pair of shoes. Two of the group, Jeff Golden and Cathy Shaw, were married and subsequently divorced after, as the press release delicately has it, Jeff had given in to a range of “unchecked appetites.” Cathy goes on to become Mayor of Ashland, Oregon, and later writes a successful book on campaigning for local office. During “The Bend in the River,” we watch Ms. Shaw’s efforts on behalf of a new client — her ex-husband.That story is its own kettle of complications, particularly when political opponents post an online ad that utilizes unflattering footage of Mr. Golden from “The Same River Twice.” The most sobering of the stories concerns the group’s one-time ringleader, Jim Tichenor. Unlike his former allies, Mr. Tichenor has stayed true to the dream. He’s spent close to half-a-century living by the river. Jim is not completely off the grid. He’s got a post office box to which he receives a regular copy of The Nation. When reading aloud about defunding the police, abolishing prisons and other nostrums within its pages, Mr. Tichenor breaks into tears. Society, he believes, is on the upswing.Mr. Tichenor, however, is worse for the wear. Teeth have gone missing, his living quarters are overrun with dirt and clutter, and his behavior suggests that isolation is not an ideal situation for the human animal. His fellow humans, in marked contrast, have done pretty well for themselves, notwithstanding the hardships and compromises which we all share in one way or another. As for Mr. Moss, he’s done a yeoman’s job of stitching together a multi-tiered story, so much so that seeing the first two films isn’t a necessity for enjoying this one. The compassion inherent to “The Bend in the River” is something the world needs more of.

Naked in the River of Time

Naked in the River of Time

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