Full disclosure: I don’t travel much. It’s not that I don’t want to but family and finances keep me either close to home or visiting those tourist destinations that exist outside the “real world.” You know, Main Street U.S.A. in Disneyland and all the other tourist shops you see in every town that sell local artifacts that have all mysteriously been made in China.
But even though I’m not much of a globetrotter, I can certainly see the appeal of traveling. The world I live in is a small one. The rest of the planet is huge. Just because I do things one way doesn’t mean there isn’t a different way to do or express it elsewhere. Travel is about the experience and becoming a more rounded person. By exposing yourself to more experiences you understand yourself on a deeper level. And if you can do that, you’re probably a better human being for it.
On the surface, Thomas Whelan’s independent production The Art of Travel may come across as being light-hearted and even a little fluffy but there’s also some depth to it as well.
Fresh out of high school Conner Layne (Christopher Kennedy Masterson) finds himself in South America with little more than a few dollars in his pocket and a backpack. Sightseeing gives way to self-discovery and growth as he finds himself as part of an expedition attempting to make a dangerous trek through a wild South American jungle. Throughout his journey, Conner is able to learn more about the world and, in turn, about who he is and his place in the world.
Part The Graduate, part Fitzcarraldo, The Art of Travel is a tribute to living on the road less traveled. Filmed entirely on location, it offers a more rounded portrayal of culture outside of the standard Hollywood clichés. Sure, there’s the trips out to foreign clubs where all your fantasies can be found, but there’s also moments of truth and honesty sitting around a campfire, playing soccer (or football as the rest of the world calls it) with a tribe they meet up with in the jungle. It’s moments like these that make up a good chunk of the film’s first two acts that make it memorable.
With that tone firmly established, things take a dramatic turn for the worst. Switching from largely a film that parallels travel with self discovery, The Art of Travel throws a romantic spin on things. It’s an abrupt change of pace that comes after a logical stepping off point where if the film ended then I would have been fully satisfied. However it kept going. This final act may have been needed for Conner to complete his personal journey, but I don’t think it was necessary. Through the voyage across the jungle he learned a lot about himself. He was a much different person coming out of the jungle than he was going in. To add this final act it feels more like a tacking on or the start of something new rather than offering closure. I believe that much of what is accomplished in the final 20 minutes could have been embedded within the context of the focal journey through the jungle.
Even still, The Art of Travel is a smart and honest film that offers a genuine feeling of exploration both internally and externally. There’s plenty of laughs and several moments of revelation that should keep you pondering. If nothing else it will make you yearn to pack your bag and explore the world more closely, even if that world is limited to the distance you can walk from your house.
The Art of Travel Trailer
