Featuring: Timothy Levitch
Director: Bennett Miller
Producer: Bennett Miller
Cinematography: Bennett Miller
Music: Marty Bellar
U.S. Distributor: Artisan Entertainment
There are two characters in The Cruise, director Bennett Miller's documentary debut - tour guide Timothy Levitch and New York, the city that barely contains his seemingly-boundless energy. This is not, however, a New York that can be found anywhere but on the screen for the 76 minute running length of this black-and-white motion picture. It is a stylized, surreal window onto the city as Levitch sees it - a place where the past and the present collide, where lore is more important than historical accuracy, and where sexual gratification can be obtained by gazing at the ornate side of a building. Throughout The Cruise, Levitch, seemingly without ever taking a breath, uses his high-pitched, nasal voice to open up his unique perspective of New York City, an alcove of civilization that, in his estimation, is "a living organism. It's in constant fluctuation."
Who is this Timothy Levitch? You may not know the answer to that question before entering a theater showing The Cruise, but you certainly will know it once the end credits have rolled. Levitch is New York's latest offbeat celebrity - a fast-talker, philosopher, and actor who is never without something strange and compelling to say. Many of his observations are witty, a few are insightful, and some are pretentious. His knowledge of New York minutia astounds, even when you realize that half of it is made up. For him, giving a tour of the city is meant to be a transformative experience, an awakening to a world that most people pass through without noticing. And he definitely ascribes to the maxim "Never let the facts stand in the way of a good story."
Levitch, now 28, has been a New York tour guide for the past seven years, since graduating from NYU in 1992. During that time, he has also been voluntarily homeless, preferring to "couch surf" from the house of one friend to that of another instead of tying himself down to one place (among those whose hospitality he enjoys are actress Natasha Lyonne and actor Dan Futterman). From 1992 until 1997, Levitch worked as a bus tour guide, first for Big Apple Tours, then for Gray Line. The Cruise was filmed during 1996 and 1997, after which Levitch left Gray Line ("I think of every double decker loop as another loop towards my death") and started his own business of walking tours. Undoubtedly, the release of this movie will boost his opportunities.
The film's title refers to Levitch's quasi-mystical philosophy of life, an experience he sees as a cruise. It's not a clearly-defined belief system, but it seems to hinge on the fact that, to truly "cruise," one must be unencumbered. Although Levitch never gives a coherent explanation of what is meant by cruising, we get a sense of it by observing him drift through life, rigorously defying conventions and flouting authority, and by listening to him speak. "I am cruising because I have devoted myself to everything in my life that is creative or destructive." On the surface, those words are meaningless, but, after watching the movie, they acquire substance.
The Cruise is a typical example of low-budget documentary film making. It's in grainy black-and-white (a blowup from the video it was shot on) with a flat audio. Oddly, however, this approach gives Levitch's New York a timeless quality. The Gershwin song "But Not for Me" plays as the camera captures the modern skyline, creating a sense of the past and present blurring together. Miller's real work came in the editing room, where dozens of hours of footage had to be trimmed and spliced to arrive at the final product. Since its April 1998 premiere at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, The Cruise has become a festival favorite, drawing raves everywhere it has played, including the Toronto International Film Festival.
There is a question, of course, about whether The Cruise will appeal more to New Yorkers than to those who live outside the city. However, while it's true that the denizens of the Big Apple may be attracted to the film because it's about their domain, there's nothing in The Cruise that prevents it from being appreciated by anyone else, no matter where they dwell. You don't have to be a New Yorker to be captivated by Levitch - in fact, one could argue that he has more appeal to out-of-towners than to residents. Regardless, because of the dominance of the central figure and the way in which The Cruise has been assembled, it functions more as a character study than a travelogue, and that makes for an engaging time in a darkened theater.
© 1998 James Berardinelli
Related Feature: "Port of Call: Bennett Miller and Timothy 'Speed' Levitch Talk about The Cruise"