November 26–December 3, 1998

movie shorts

The Cruise

recommended

There aren't many people you'd want to hear talk for 76 minutes straight, but Speed Levitch, the gangly, goggle-eyed subject of The Cruise, leaves you wishing for a sequel. Captured by Bennett Miller's camera over a period of several months, Levitch is unlike any character ever seen on the screen, a New York tour guide for whom a trip around Manhattan is a metaphor for life. His main concern is "the cruise," a state of being in which every moment is lived to its fullest. While Levitch certainly has his share of pent-up anguishes—in a startling scene, he rattles off a list of people who have hurt him going back to the fifth grade—there's something quite astonishing about his ability to retain his idealism in the midst of the most cynical city in the world.

—Sam Adams