by Rachel Staggs

The Cruise is a film that will enlighten the spirit and open the mind.

Shot over a three-year period in New York City, The Cruise follows the daily life of Timothy "Speed" Levitch, taking the viewer on a tour that Levitch facilitates with historical information and his own insights. Atop the Gray Line double-decker bus, Levitch recites poetry and discusses the unnatural beginnings of Central Park. The "cruise" appears to be synonymous with life for Levitch; when he discusses life he often refers to it as The Cruise itself. "If I have an essential goal on The Cruise right now... I think that the simplest goal is, perhaps, to be able to exhibit that I am thrilled to be alive and still be respected," Levitch says. "The Cruise is about the searchings for everything worthwhile in existence."

Levitch will fill your head with thoughts to ponder. For instance: "You know, I want to look at the flower and appreciate the beauty of the flower. Somebody else might say you can look at the flower and become the flower -- isn't that even better? But then I further would love it, on The Cruise, if I could look at the flower, appreciate the beauty of the flower, and then have the flower appreciate the beauty of me."

Director Bennett Miller embraces the lows and highs of New York City in the black-and-white images that grace the screen. Architecture is artistically captured in moments throughout the film where Levitch takes time to pleasure in it. Levitch's thought process is so eloquent that one cannot distinguish between his thoughts and poetry. His thoughts are poetry.

"Civilization is the amputation of everything that ever happened to us ... Civilization is the molestation of everything we ever could be -- a giant repression melting into suppression so that you never say what you mean. Civilization is breathing down our necks, splitting us apart; we are wreckage with beating hearts... Civilization knew who you were before you were ever born, forgave you when you thought you needed forgiving. And you never once surprised this civilization. And you never once felt that sensation."

The Cruise is a timeless film filled with intelligence, laughter, and most of all, honesty.