The Sea
That Thinks aka: De zee die denkt
Director:
Gert de Graaff Cast: Bart Klever, Devika Strooker, Rick de Leeuw,
Don Duyns
We all
create our own reality, or do we? That is the core question
behind this highly original and masterfully crafted examination
of the illusionary nature of reality. Blending Eastern and Buddhist
philosophies with the visual chicanery of M.C. Escher, this
fascinating treatise manages to take on the rather cerebral
question of “Who are we and what is our place in the universe?”,
and turn it into a captivating and fun-filled 100 minutes. The
film centers on Bart, a writer struggling with his screenplay,
“The sea that thinks.” As he sits at his computer,
the work begins to unfold as nothing more than a description
of his sitting at the computer, writing the screenplay. Before
long he is stuck in a whirling conundrum in which everything
he writes becomes reality. Director Gert de Graaff approaches
his subject with an impish sense of humor and dazzles the viewer
with a series of astounding visual tricks that confront the
nature and validity of our perception. Ultimately, de Graaff’s
film challenges the audience at several levels to question whether
anything we see or touch or taste is really what it appears
to be, or whether our entire understanding of the universe and
our place in it is merely a trick played on us by our senses.
Note: AFTER you've seen the movie, check out the film's entertaining
web site.
Eric
Moore, Phillyfests.com, 26-4-2001