(out of ****)
_The_Cruise_ (PG-13) *** _Unmade_Beds_ ** 1/2
After the first five minutes of _The_Cruise_, I wanted to shoot the documentary's subject, wildly eccentric New York tour bus guide Timothy "Speed" Levitch. Ceaselessly babbling in a nasal voice just a tad more listenable than Fran Drescher's, he got on my nerves instantaneously. But as Bennett Miller's beautifully photographed black-and-white film progressed, I became fascinated by him. Though ostensibly about his love affair with every last aspect of the city, _The_Cruise_ gradually reveals itself to be a most unique character study, where the subject reveals himself not through the personal information he imparts (there are vague allusions to a bad relationship with his parents and failed attempts at a writing career), but all else he talks about--and talk he does, in florid verbiage that reveals less about objects than his poetic nature.
A little more straightforward on the surface is the dark and depressing _Unmade_Beds_, which follows four New Yorkers on their never-ending (and never-successful) quests for true love and happiness. Our subjects: Aimee Copp, a goodhearted 28-year-old with a weight problem (she weighs 225 pounds) who longs to be married before the big 3-0; Mikey Russo, a 54-year-old struggling screenwriter who is proud of his womanizing past; 40-year-old, 5'4" Michael DeStephano, a bitter but likable guy who more than reminds of _Seinfeld_'s George Costanza; and, most memorably, Brenda Monte, a brash, buxom 40-something divorcee who is less interested in love than a man with deep enough pockets to support her and her 16-year-old daughter.
But, as I said, _Unmade_Beds_ is only straightforward on the surface. While these are real people followed over a period of nine months, as the opening disclaimer says, it is not stated that the happenings onscreen are fictionalized. Writer-director Nicholas Barker based his script on extensive interviews with his cast, using their real-life happenings as a jumping-off point for those in his script. While these people's true personalities and pain are clearly revealed throughout, sometimes discomfitingly so (Aimee's pain is most acutely felt), it is that unique veneer of fiction that makes the film fall short. Instead of enhancing the real truths that Barker is after, the fiction, appropriately enough, diminishes any truth he finds; this is especially the case with a late "plot twist" involving Brenda's fortunes. While _Unmade_Beds_ is engrossing, engaging viewing, I cannot shake the feeling that it would have been moreso had I seen the whole truth.
Michael Dequina
mrbrown@iname.com | michael_jordan@geocities.com
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