This is a vaguely sweet little film does make me want to travel again. It offers precisely no insight about anything, but if you take it as a travelogue, you'll be happy with what you get.
Although the film visits exotic locales in Asia, Europe, Australia and South America, the undisputed star is the American film-maker. I guess I'm jealous of what I perceive as a uniquely American luxury of assuming everything you utter is profound; that not only should you record your thoughts, but they're worthy of a full-length film. It's not Asia or Europe that are interesting, but what this young American thinks about his experience visiting them.
Watching this, I was reminded (and, yes, the irony of writing about my own experiences isn't lost on me) of going to a concert by an 80's songstress in 2003 in Hicksville – yes, Hicksville – outside New York. I'm from Tasmania, Australia, and at the time I was living in Manchester, UK, travelling with a British girlfriend. We met a lovely group of American chaps at the concert and not one of them asked what we were doing in Hicksville watching a Cyndi Lauper concert in 2003. When they heard where we were from, one launched into a story about Sydney and another about London. My friend and I laughed about it at the time, commenting on the fact that they had no interest in us or our countries, just in their own experiences in relation to us. And that's what this whole film is like.
I do recommend watching it if you're young and about to go travelling, or thinking about it. I suspect it's already out of date with social media affording kids of all nationalities and incomes the ability to create travelogues, but if you don't know anyone who's backpacking with a blog, this does show what it's like. In fact, the entire film is just a Facebook update that a rich bloke managed to make into a motion picture.
Although the film visits exotic locales in Asia, Europe, Australia and South America, the undisputed star is the American film-maker. I guess I'm jealous of what I perceive as a uniquely American luxury of assuming everything you utter is profound; that not only should you record your thoughts, but they're worthy of a full-length film. It's not Asia or Europe that are interesting, but what this young American thinks about his experience visiting them.
Watching this, I was reminded (and, yes, the irony of writing about my own experiences isn't lost on me) of going to a concert by an 80's songstress in 2003 in Hicksville – yes, Hicksville – outside New York. I'm from Tasmania, Australia, and at the time I was living in Manchester, UK, travelling with a British girlfriend. We met a lovely group of American chaps at the concert and not one of them asked what we were doing in Hicksville watching a Cyndi Lauper concert in 2003. When they heard where we were from, one launched into a story about Sydney and another about London. My friend and I laughed about it at the time, commenting on the fact that they had no interest in us or our countries, just in their own experiences in relation to us. And that's what this whole film is like.
I do recommend watching it if you're young and about to go travelling, or thinking about it. I suspect it's already out of date with social media affording kids of all nationalities and incomes the ability to create travelogues, but if you don't know anyone who's backpacking with a blog, this does show what it's like. In fact, the entire film is just a Facebook update that a rich bloke managed to make into a motion picture.