FilmBlather.com

Who the hell needs a story, anyway? I've never had an appreciation for what's known in Hollywood as avant-garde: movies that abandon narrative structure to try to be daring and make some kind of statement. Some of these films though, such as The Sea That Thinks from the Netherlands, are so irresistibly oddball that they're difficult to dislike. Director Gert de Graaf was in attendance at the Philadelphia Film Festival screening, and his remarks to the audience before the film began were "Don't try to understand everything. Just watch and enjoy." Wise words, those.

Bart Klever plays Bart, a screenwriter trying to write a film entitled "The Sea That Thinks." The script is about Bart, a screenwriter trying to write a film entitled "The Sea that Thinks." We're never sure whether we're watching the screenwriter in "real life" or scenes from the movie he is writing. We're not even sure the director is sure. It doesn't matter. The plot, if you want to call it that, exists to explore the nature of reality and illusion.

When we think in first person, using "I", who exactly is "I"? Does "I" really exist? Is there any difference between what we dream and what we think we really experience? Do we believe what we see? Should we? Why? These are the kinds of questions The Sea That Thinks asks and then pretends to answer. There aren't really any answers, and Graaf knows this; his purpose isn't to dictate a philosophy but to challenge traditional ways of thinking.

There are a lot of optical illusions used to illustrate this point which, to the intelligent viewer, is the equivalent of a sledgehammer on the head. It doesn't make much of a difference, I suppose, since most of the movie's ideas are dictated in voiceover anyway, and after a few minutes it's no longer bothersome. Some of the illusions, in fact, are downright cool, such as the inevitable scene where a character gets smaller and smaller in relation to the floor and the ceiling while walking across a seemingly level room. Others are just plain odd, like the one where the cat walks over a chair instead of under it.

I wasn't able to stay for the Q & A that followed the screening, but I don't feel particularly deprived; for all the unorthodoxy at hand here, The Sea That Thinks isn't very confusing, and the director's intentions are crystal clear. If the movie feels too much like a lecture sometimes, well, if you tune out, you'll still be able to watch the humorous, bizarre, stunning visuals on display.

If it's the unconventional you seek, see The Sea That Thinks. The movie is lighter than its plot description would have you believe, but far more thoughtful than you could glean from its title. It won't transform your world, but it will make you think, if only for a couple of fleeting hours.