The Arc of Oblivion wonders if humans are dumb. (After all, we do try to preserve things in a universe in which seemingly everything decays.) It is a playful documentary, full of connections.
For example: The director/narrator decides to build a big ol’ boat on mom and dad’s land-locked property, because, why not?
Yep. And with each step things become more curious. See this cement? Well, apparently you can’t make it without limestone, which apparently you can’t make without a million seashells being pressure-crushed at the bottom of the ocean. And by the way the phrase “in the limelight” is somehow related to this. And did you know that tree rings are like a permanent record? Like bat poop?
Look at my Ark, me Mommy, and despair!
The narrated adventures we embark upon start at our director’s curiosity (or concern?), and are many. But the movie’s best parts are when the people we meet along the way share their thoughts. Tree-ring scientists and poets, carpenters and neuroscientists; all are invited to see the ark and chit chat. And if that sounds boring, don’t worry, we go to the Alps and the Sahara and the Antarctic, too.
Sure the topic is morbid, but the movie watches light. It’s like a visual diary from that smart kid from the fourth grade trying to think through a timeless and complex problem that the teacher knows they won’t be able to answer—but that’ll be fun, interesting, and perhaps just the tiniest bit insightful to follow along with anyway.
No commentary necessary here; completely straightforward.