TWO YEARS AT SEA

Using 16mm cameras, artist Ben Rivers documents the solitary existence of Jake, a man who lives in isolation in the middle of a remote forest. The film follows his unconventional life, capturing moments of profound beauty. Jake is seen in all seasons, surviving frugally, passing the time with strange projects, living the radical dream he had as a younger man, a dream he spent two years working at sea to realize.

2010  Anthropology 

"Interpreting Two Years at Sea is far less important (or necessary) than watching it, experiencing the film as it happens instead of trying to wrest meaning from it. What counts is the fog that wreathes the trees, the bloody folk song that the man plays on a record player, the slight pulsing quality of the images and the way that another person's seclusion can feel like an oasis."

—Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

"A brilliant film artist."

—Robert Koehler, Cinema Scope