Film Reactions - The Cruise

Bennet Miller takes an observational stance to tell the story of Timothy “Speed” Levitch in The Cruise. To the viewer, Timothy seems to be telling his own story and the camera follows him around whenever he might be. Timothy’s always seems to be talking and his voice dominates the minutes of the film—so Miller’s approach seems appropriate. The subject seems to have so much to say that there is no room for questions or the voice of a director butting in to prompt the next segment.

The film creates a montage of Timothy’s life without being very linear, however, his emotions do seem to culminate in a segment on the Brooklyn Bridge where he lists the offenses he has carried for much of his life. Timothy is such a showman that I wonder how often he is genuine and how often he is performing for the camera just as he would for the passengers on one of his double-decker busses. Miller chooses to show a very consistent version of Timothy. One of the few quiet moments is when Timothy types something unknown on a computer. For the first time, I did not know what he was thinking and enjoyed that moment. In that space I could draw my own conclusions about Timothy Levitch.

While Miller and Levitch collaborate on many scenes to tell the full story such as dizzily spinning in the World Trade Center Plaza, I do enjoy the fast pace of Timothy’s mind and there is great, quick editing to complement him. To truly do a film about this character, Timothy had to be in control and this film certainly lets him cruise his own life and lets us see some of the most interesting sites of a personality as busy and complex as New York.