THE CRUISE A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
Timothy 'Speed' Levitch, the Spalding Gray of New York City tour guides, is the subject of director Bennett Miller's documentary, THE CRUISE.
Speed, a quintessential New Yorker, has the encyclopedic knowledge of a humanities graduate student. As his bus snakes though the crowded Manhattan streets, he talks a blue streak. Every building, it would seem, holds some literary or historical story, and Speed knows them all.
With a harsh, twangy voice, hair like an old mop, rumpled, torn clothes, and a splotchy face, Speed is an energetic veteran of the tour guide wars.
A fatalistic philosopher, Speed has opinions on every subject and many are pretty bizarre. "I think of every double-decker loop as another loop toward my death," he tells us in one of his more lucid moments. Many of his musings leaves one baffled as to their exact portent.
The movie has two parts, on the bus and off, which are interspersed. In his environment as a guide to the city, the other star of the movie, Speed is elegant and poetic. He describes New York City as, among other things, a "Cyclops" and a "scintillating mermaid."
When he is off the bus, negotiating assignments with his dispatcher or telling a rambling Jewish story, Speed doesn't hold our attention as he should. But, like patient tourists, we wait for the bus to leave and for him to get back on it so we can continue our journey.
To be fair, if success means pleasing your customers, Speed appears to be a failure. The many shots of his bus audience show them so near boredom that they look like moving zombies.
"One of the great tragedies of this experiment of the thing we call civilization is that we have to work," Speed tells us. This is ironic since he seems happy only when he is working. Even if his riders don't appreciate him, he loves every minute he gets on his little stage.
The short movie feels longer that it's hour and a quarter length, probably because it has one natural ending scene after another before it finally stops. Although the movie is worth seeing, the actual guided tour looks a lot more interesting.
THE CRUISE runs 1:16 and is filmed in black and white. The movie is not rated but would probably be PG-13 for mature themes and would be fine for kids around 12 and up.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
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