Angelfish
2011 · 11m · USA
Directed by Michael Tyburski
Genres: coming-of-age, drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic
An unfocused young man named August retreats from city life to live alone on a sailboat moored on New York City's East River, seeking solitude amid the noise of the urban world surrounding him.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Todd Banhazl's cinematography earns the film its reputation — the way he shoots the Manhattan skyline from the water at dawn, making the city look both close and unreachable, is the kind of visual thinking that turns a character study into something mythic.
Tyburski before he was Tyburski — young aimless man on a boat, East River, contemplation. The setup is patient; the metaphor (escape that isn't escape) is overcooked. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt because Tyburski did go on to actually direct The Sound of Silence.
Michael Tyburski uses the East River as both literal and metaphorical border — the boat as escape that's still entirely surrounded by the city. Pre-Sound of Silence Tyburski, the quiet observational instinct already intact.