The Cruise

Speed Levitch is a manic personality, inflamed by anything he experiences as a constraint on his autonomy, especially the homogeneous facades of NYC's grid, "anti-cruise" incarnate. He remembers minor past slights as intolerable treasons. His seemingly infinite self-regard, however, causes his interpretation of NYC to register with authority; he renders visible an invisible history -- Henry Miller, Gershwin, D.H. Lawrence, lasciviously -- & infuses the city with energy, idiosyncrasy, sex.

They've done it! The filmmakers have managed to find the single most annoying human being on the planet. I had to turn this off when he started orgasmically grunting while staring at a building. I always tell myself to avoid these "portrait of a weirdo" documentaries and I keep getting suckered in by good ratings. Stay away from this movie unless you genuinely feel "inspired" or "fascinated" by people who intentionally talk in verbose riddles in an effort to sound intelligent.

I can't tell if Timothy Levitch is one of the craziest people I have seen or one of the smartest, and this documentary holds the tension between the two throughout its duration. This film would pair well with Grizzly Man because both documentaries feature eccentric people that are so passionate that it's inspiring. I almost paused the movie several times to reflect on his tangents. His poetic expressions and ideas would read well in a book. This is a memorable documentary that I will revisit in

Early on I was prepared to hate this guy, but he won me over for the most part (though he's still off-putting at times). If nothing else, his enthusiasm is undeniably infectious and he's beautifully eloquent at times. He's like Timothy Treadwell, only you don't want to punch him in the face. And low-res digital video suits NYC surprisingly well - it looks beautiful.

I went in anticipating a beautiful depiction of a great city, and what I got was an exhilarating portrait of an eccentric and inspired man. It's also hilarious, and it moved me much more than I ever expected to be. Timothy Levitch is a fucking poet.

An exceptional expose on a fascinating and inspiring individual.

He's not as interesting as he thinks he is, in fact some parts are downright dumb, but Speed's love of NYC is palpable and infectious and it makes for a rewarding experience.

A favorite from high school.

Was expecting just an interesting documentary, but it really got me to tears. If you have emotional and erotical tendencies towards places, and if you're longing someplace you can't be, you might be interested in this.

77.33.

Levitch is essentially a modern day version of Thoreau & fans of the Transcendalists should love this. Levitch's philosophical stew often boils down to raising individuality over community & railing against fantastic advances like air conditioning & societal rules that (mostly) keep us savages from devolving into anarchy , but Levitch is never an annoying hippie simply b/c he lets us see the costs of his "cruise" & like Thoreau (& Emerson) can manipulate language to make the banal seem profound.

One of my favourite film characters presented in documentaries. Beautifully shot and made by the director of Capote and money ball, this will always remain as his masterpiece. The greatest film I've ever seen about the soul of new York.

26 Novembre 2011 - Quin tio, un món interessant de percepcions i idees que m'anirà ressonant. La tornaré a veure diversos cops.