My Octopus Teacher (2020)
Genre: Documentary
Duration: 85 minuten
Country:
South Africa
Directed by: Philippa Ehrlich and James Reed
Stars: Craig Foster
IMDb score:
8,1 (70.659)
Releasedate: 4 September 2020
My Octopus Teacher plot
Craig Foster swims every day in the icy seas of South Africa and at one point comes across a special companion: a young curious octopus. Foster's new octopus friend lives in a kelp forest, and there's a lot more to explore there than he first thought possible. Slowly but surely, the two gain each other's trust and the curious young octopus reveals more and more of the secrets of the underwater world to him. That is special in itself, but Foster himself also notices that he is physically changing: he can cope much better with the cold and can also hold his breath longer.
Reviews & comments
james_cameron
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- 7060 messages
- 9827 votes
Beautifully designed, endearing and even poignant documentary about the unlikely friendship that develops between depressed wildlife photographer Craig Foster and a young curious octopus. The improbable fact results in a fascinating viewing experience, further enhanced by the dazzlingly beautiful underwater photography. I got into this a bit cynically, but in the end I didn't keep it dry.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Donkerwoud
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- 8696 messages
- 3961 votes
The scourge of this time is that everything has to be psychologically broken. All on the couch because one's own life is so terribly interesting to others; every trauma dug into the darkest corners and every emotion spelled out in big letters. This way you get a nature documentary like 'My Octopus Teacher' (2020) with overwhelmingly beautiful atmospheric images and a portrayed person who is incessantly rambling through it. Craig Foster says on the voice-over exactly what we can see for ourselves, or he pesters us with uninteresting emotions about how the encounters with this octopus enrich his life. Almost spiritual how he makes everything seem overwhelming and meaningful. Just holding a sob to have maximum effect with this volcano of emotions. In that respect, too sentimental to project the octopus's life cycle onto Foster's relationship with his son, while the boy doesn't even open his mouth throughout the documentary. If you can see past the pedanticism and psychology of the cold ground, 'My Octopus Teacher' (2020) is a delightful underwater sketch. But you'd do well to mute it.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Woland
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- 4810 messages
- 3826 votes
I was looking forward to this, especially with an average score like this. And indeed, the film contains a lot of beautiful underwater images, focusing on an octopus and all the other marine life that is intertwined with it. But visually this may be fine, but that's about it for me. The film is told from the point of view of Craig Foster, a diver who bonds with the octopus. At least he finds himself. Anyway, I've rarely heard such an obnoxious narrator as Craig Foster. In addition to an extremely exhausting voice, he also has a tendency to talk about every bit of underwater tranquility with what he sees (unnecessary, but perhaps still somewhat functional) but also with what he feels. And that's rarely uninteresting, especially when he shares sentimental stories about his depression, his son, his projected friendship with the octopus, and basically anything else that comes to mind. The last ten minutes were absolutely terrifying. Craig Foster completely ruined the documentary for me. If only I had listened to Dark Forest and turned off the sound.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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