At Sea

Peter Hutton's 2007 documentary follows the life of a freighter in three parts. In the first the ship is built in Korea, in the second it crosses the ocean, in the third it is broken up on a beach in Bangladesh. There is no sound. No dialogue, no narrator and no music; the camera stays fixed and every shot runs long. The narrative gives no information and leaves the viewer alone with looking. Hutton had worked at sea for a long time, and that experience sets the film's gaze. The question of scale is central; the size of the ship and the height of the people dismantling it are seen in the same frame. Who it's for: those who like experimental documentary and silent cinema. Who it's not for: viewers expecting information or narrative; no one speaks across the film.