Christopher at Sea

In all human experience, love lies in wait, a tantalizing and devastating force that can either liberate or shatter us. For Tom CJ Brown, the talented director behind Christopher at Sea, love is “that treacherous, ruinous, wonderful thing” – a complex and multifaceted emotion that defies easy categorization. With this short film, Brown embarks on a deeply personal exploration of love that challenges traditional notions and blurs the lines between reality and fantasy. As Brown himself confesses, “I made it for myself, like therapy, but really really expensive therapy that ruins your life and then everyone gets to watch.”

The story begins with Christopher, a young man who embarks on a cargo ship journey to New York. Feeling out of place, he paces restlessly around the boat until he encounters Valentin, a crew member who provokes him to confront his own internal journey. Although Christopher says he has a girlfriend, something in him awakens, something that will pull him toward an unfamiliar and irresistible emotional terrain.

“Christopher’s journey became entwined with my own, including a dramatic retelling of the communal showers from my first trip to Sundance in 2007” – Brown on the inspiration for his film.

Looking to present an exploration of love which challenges traditional notions, Brown explains his thought process: “It seemed a little problematic to have a heteronormative love story take place in this hyper-masculine environment trapped at sea.” He continues, “Confinement, sailors, despair… it had to be a queer love story. Right around the time I made that decision, as I stared at the reference images of beautiful boys I’d ripped out of fashion magazines and hung above my desk, I realized that I was probably gay. And so, Christopher’s journey became entwined with my own…”

As Christopher navigates the complexities of his emotions, the film’s visual language becomes essential in conveying his experience. This is one of those shorts where animation plays a fundamental expressive role, becoming an integral aspect of the narrative. It elevates the story into a dreamlike realm, where the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur, mirroring Christopher’s internal transformation.

“The aesthetic is based on my illustration style which revels in folds of fabric, catholicism, and body hair” – Brown discussing the film’s visual style.

The fluidity of both the character and background designs, combined with the animation’s dynamic movement, allows the short to fluctuate effortlessly between crisp, clean vector moments and richly textured, expressive sequences. The director uses this technique to his advantage, pushing the boundaries of his design and animation to create a visually captivating experience. Smears and deformations in the characters’ movements feel both elegantly simple and intricately detailed, drawing the audience into the protagonist’s turbulent mental state and making his emotional journey all the more immersive.

It’s remarkable to see how Brown’s raw storytelling, via shorts like T.O.M and Teeth, then in an acclaimed commercial career at Psyop in New York before opening his own boutique studio, has evolved in Christopher at Sea. Where Teeth felt gritty and unfiltered, this film brings a different type of rawness—one rooted in vulnerability and self-discovery—executed with a far more fluid and expressive animation style.

After 20 glorious minutes, Christopher at Sea leaves us with a provocative, lingering question—Are we truly free to make our own choices, or are we confined by the limits of our own minds, adrift in an endless ocean, just like Christopher?