[title]
Foxcatcher director Bennett Miller has come a long way since making his feature filmmaking debut with the under-seen 1998 documentary The Cruise, but no matter how many Best Picture-nominated movies you make (and Foxcatcher is poised to be Miller's third in a row; you can read our review here), you can never really leave New York. This is where Miller was born, and his first film–which is wildly different from everything he's made since–is the kind of twisted love letter to Manhattan that you might expect from a guy who's made a career of looking under the skin of The American Dream.
A loving and only partially demented portrait of a motormouthed NYC tour bus guide named Timmy "Speed" Levitch, The Cruise is a blisteringly enjoyable ride along with a personality who's as unique to his city as his city is unique to the world. Shooting in super high-contrast black and white, and keeping the camera locked on Levitch so as to see the city through his manic eyes, Miller's debut is a one-of-a-kind hyper-speed adventure through New York City as it may never be again (or, depending on how much stock you put in Levitch's stories, may never have been in the first place).
Miller is currently on the campaign trail for Foxcatcher, and the IFC Center is making the most of it. Tomorrow night at 730pm, they'll be screening The Cruise on 35mm, and the film will be followed by a Q&A between Miller and Serial godfather Ira Glass. The event will be held as part of the series "Ira Glass Favorites", a collection of the public radio personality's favorite non-fiction films.
Check out the film's trailer below.