Review: Christopher at Sea

Christopher (James Potter) is the name of our lead character who is at sea on a voyage to NYC. Except, this is no normal sea voyage…nope. This voyage features nothing but a crew of dudes who divide their time between working, fine dining, and singing the night away below deck. Christopher meets a third engineer named Valentin (Andrew Isar) and in the span of 20 minutes goes from a guy seemingly missing his girlfriend to that of one who maybe questions his sexuality and possibly conflates true love with lust.

The Tom C J Brown-directed film produced by Miyu, Psyop, and Temple Carrington & Brown is a 2D hand-drawn animated film that immerses viewers into an artistic, visual experience around themes of identity and self-discovery. This latest project from Brown is yet another example of the creative driven director’s significant and influential work in the LGBTQ+ community and has been dubbed a “visionary queer director” by OUT Magazine.

The operatic thriller is set to the emotive music of Schubert’s 1823 song cycle ‘Die schöne Müllerin’ alongside contemporary music from Casey Spooner, Walt Disco, and the film’s composers Brian McOmber and Judith Berkson.

The ending, perhaps, may leave viewers with a lot to be desired, possibly wondering whether or not left wondering whether or not Christopher truly got what he was seeking, indicative of Brown’s signature, hand-drawn, animation style and story-first creative approach.