Across the Sea of Time (1995)

I love this movie so much

One of my all time favorites.

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Dear Mr. Gillis; I'm an actor, but not writing to you as one. I recently saw the above film, "Across the Sea of Time," that you wrote in 1995 and just wanted to tell you that I absolutely loved it. It was a beautiful film and you should be very proud of it.Too bad more people haven't had the opportunity to see it. Loved seeing the old photos of New York in the early 1900's, the young boy actor and the theme of the story. After seeing it I called the casting director to see if I could get some kind of a work address to send a "thank you" to you, but they would not give me anything which, I guess, is the right thing to do! Wish there were more films like this today. Thank you!Best wishes, A fan

I was curious how that format - so impressive at th IMAX theaters - would translate to the regular television screen, so I rented the VHS of this. My answer: it doesn't. One needs a big screen, I guess.....a very big screen, especially when the visuals aren't that good to start with as was the case here.This is simply a little documentary about New York City, comparing how some intersections and buildings looked back in he early part of the 20th century as compared to when this movie was made in 1996. Interwoven in the presentation is a little Russian immigrant kids story. It's quite boring for the most part. If you grew up in NYC, especially in spots where this was filmed, this would be a lot more interesting.

I went along to this one in the now defunct Adelaide cinema just to try out the IMAX experience and was blown away by the brilliance of this piece. Not only was it my first visit to this particular theater, but also my first experience at 3-D IMAX. What a breathtaking introduction. The New York images were stunning, and beautifully presented around the story of the Russian boy's adventure. In particular, the historical shots of daring construction workers, dangling hundreds of feet in the air to put together New York's skyscrapers were gut wrenching. It's historical value, presenting the beginnings of one of the most exciting cities in the world, is immeasurable.A genuine, chance-viewing - I'm grateful for my good fortune at discovering it. I only wish I could get a copy for my collection.

A grand scale IMAX 3D mini-epic blending state of the art monochrome 3D still photography from 1916, with stunning full-colour 3D motion and surround sound from 1995.The story is obviously contrived to make optimum use of the archival material: a young Russian boy, Tomas Minton, travels "blind" (i.e. in a room with no view) by ship to New York, and jumps ship to search for a relative who emigrated early in the century. That man had found paid work as a specialist 3D photographer and had sent home a viewer and a set of his slides which showed many aspects of 1916 New York life. Tomas routinely refers to this collection of pictures as he wanders the city trying to find recognisable landmarks in the modern skyline.(N.B. The World Trade Centre doesn't get any special attention, if it appears at all.)The 1916 images are extraordinarily detailed, fully justifying the IMAX big screen and we see a lot more than just the facade of skyscrapers, or the tinsel of Broadway. I am never likely to see New York in person, so I was impressed by all of the visuals.Director Stephen Low takes advantage of opportunities to push people's 3D response buttons, but it's not done excessively. The overall impact is of a very big city, with a personal history of endurance in the face of hardship, and with many elements of true beauty in its landscape and architecture.There's a rather natty but very unlikely happy ending, instead of the most likely event of Tomas being grabbed by Immigration and thrown on the first plane back to Russia (proving that this really is a work of fiction).Brisbane's IMAX theatre closes down this month, after consistently losing money since it opened. I feel especially privileged to have been able to experience this film in the world's biggest and best of movie theatre environments.