MovieChat Forums > The Cruise (1998) Discussion > Just not that compelling

Just not that compelling

posted 17 years ago by amolad-1
13 replies | jump to latest

Timothy "Speed" Levitch is a tour guide on NYC's Gray Line bus tours. On the bus, he's given to anecdotes,
architectural facts, quotes from authors, and his own skewed view of the city he loves. Off the bus,
however, he rambles sometimes almost incoherently about his own life philiosophy, experiences, and feelings.
This could be so much better. And it's not Levitch's fault; it's the filmmakers.
Thank god Bennett Miller got out of the documentary genre and is sticking to
things like "Capote" -- which he can have more control over.
This film is a mess, structurally.
Just basic things are never addressed:
--why is he called "Speed"?
--just what is "the cruise" or "cruising" that he always speaks about
--what about his early life -- why is he this way?
The filmmakers never bother to ask any of these questions.
If they have, and just left them out of the film, they've made a serious mistake.
"Crusing" seems to be Levitch's term for feeling positive and getting through
life with the least resistance. It's also how he refers to taking a loop around
Manhattan with a tour group. It also seems -- subconsciously -- to be what he
claims is the sole reason he gives the tours: to pick up women, believe it or
not.
Instead, they give us scenes of Levitch telling some ancient parable by a pond
in Central Park (a story that makes absolutely no sense and is impossible to follow)
and showing him standing in front of a tour group chewing on a slice of pizza with his mouth open.
They show Levitch's mug shots but never explain what he was arrested for. And
Levitch then just rambles on about what he WOULD have said to the judge, had he been
allowed to speak.
They show him on the Brooklyn Bridge emoting about how he feels at one with the landmark,
and then cursing out people from his past, like the kids who once
wouldn't share a banana with him.
Do they like this guy or are they making fun of him?
And, unfortunately, in less that ten years "The Cruise" doesn't stand the test
of time. It feels dated, and painfully so. Levitch, near the end of the film,
does something which he has earlier recommended to others. He stands between
the two World Trade Center towers, spins himself around, and then lays on the
ground and looks up. It feels, he says, like the towers are crashing down
around you. Ouch.
The problem is the choices they have made. With the undoubted hours of footage
they must have on this guy, THESE are things they have chosen to include in this film?
The average person will probably have the same reaction. At times, Timothy
"Speed" Levitch is an interesting character. At too many other times in this short (76 minute) film,
his self-absorption just isn't that compelling.

[–] tibbar-2 17 years ago

you just aren't cruisin

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jackbrown2000 17 years ago

Agreed, just sat through it, waiting for the compelling reason for this documentary to be shot, and it just was not there. Narcism that was just not that compelling.

[–] egyptx 16 years ago

if you're going to post on the internet, please spell check.
"narcissism".
and then there's the fact that you entirely missed the point.
to need the film, it's makers, and it's subject to adhere to traditional linearality, and to be unable to to feel invigorated by the sheer aliveness of this man because you don't know why "he is the way he is", is so very short-sighted, so LAZY of you.
and so contrary to the spirit of the film.
it's disappointing that as an audience member you couldn't be bothered to concert a bit more effort in understanding, and were so easily alienated by the otherness of this singular, poetic soul.
the situation is made the more unfortunate in that you seem exactly the sort who might benefit most from speed's cruising philosophy.

[–] pooleman87 16 years ago

ARE YOU CRAZY! Doesn't stand the test of time?! I thought the scene in between the twin towers was one of the most powerful of the movie given what we know now! Because he was so free and idiosyncratic, he got to do something that NO ONE WILL EVER GET TO DO AGAIN! How often do you think others did the same thing by the towers? Probably not often is my guess.

[–] vanityfair_713 16 years ago

Technically, this movie was fine. Bennett Miller knows what he's doing with a camera and all that. Levitch, however, didn't seem to be that interesting of a figure, and certainly not a "singular, poetic soul." I did enjoy the World Trade Center bit, but other than that I found his name dropping and "unique views" to be very pretentious. I was hoping for something more, something genuinely insightful. Sure, he seems like a nice guy, but not every nice guy needs a film about to be made about him.

He said it's all in your head, and I said, so's everything--
But he didnt get it.

[–] Monigan 14 years ago

Levitch pretty much owns to being narcissistic and hammy, so before you defend him, please recognize that he's aware of these "faults," and appears to cultivate them.

I found him sometimes exasperating and sometimes brilliant. His comment w/r/t Madison Ave., that it is a completely 20th-Century construction and cannot last, made me think more deeply about this city than I have in a long time. At the same time, his comment about his mother, that her menses was "his blood," seemed egocentric and ungenerous.

He's a fascinating human being, but no more flawless than any of us.

[–] kodak007 12 years ago

If you love this city, you will Apriciate this movie. It's as simple as that.
*****************************************
Kill Them, Kill Them All!

[–] MTulliver 16 years ago

To be honest, I did find him to be a little egotistical, but also really depressed and lonely (something I found heartbreaking)...which makes me wonder if he's just being ironic w. the egoism.
Anyway, I don't think you should assume that a doco. by someone who doesn't believe in the grid system should follow a linear path. Thoughts and feelings aren't linear, so I found his random rantings to make more sense that way...if you see what I mean. It's like stream of consciousness poetry set to film.

Overall, I think this is a doco meant to make you THINK. Life does not give you all the answers...sometimes you have to figure them out for yourself. And sometimes you just have to get used to using the mantra "I don't know". It's ok not to know.

[–] tyboulder 14 years ago

"It's like stream of consciousness poetry set to film."

I think that's the best description of this film. Whether or not you like the poetry, or the man delivering it, is obviously quite contested here.

[–] BunnyNC 14 years ago

This film left me feeling so sad. He is so obviously ill and, apparently, receiving no treatment for his illness. It sounds like he's been misunderstood by his grandparents...they probably didn't realize that he wasn't well and couldn't help it.

I won't go into detail, but it will be obvious to mental health professionals that he shows signs of at least one major illness, IMO. Medications to treat illness often drastically dull what is perceived to be a person's "creative genius." It's a trade-off.

As fascinating as this man is just the way he is, it is also very sad to see. He can't have had an easy time of it. I wish him well.

[–] ObservationBlogger 9 years ago

I think he meant you when he was talking about the lady and the grid-squares as well as the anti-cruisers.

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[–] CoSMiGoNoN 9 years ago

It was incredibly boring. 75% of what he sai was just nonsense. Fell asleep 30 minutes into it. Funny how he kept mentioning chasing nude women when's it's so obvious he's gay.