As the title indicates, Sea Legs turns sea sickness on its head by showing a hardened sailor struggling on land in a short film with no words and lots of surrealist adventures.
A burly sailor feels decidedly diminished and awkward after stepping off the vessel to which he has obviously become very accustomed. Driven by love, he takes the risk of leaving his comfort zone to search for the beautiful object of his affections. But making his way through the city and all its people turns out to be a tribulation far more arduous than crossing a choppy sea, yet he is determined to go full steam ahead no matter what. As in his previous short film, The Elephant and The Bicycle (2014), which told the story of a huge elephant trapped in an urban jungle and trying to find a bicycle on which to escape, the Sea Legs director and scriptwriter Olesya Shchukina centres a poignant story on a fearsome-looking character who finds himself out of his depth as soon as he leaves the safety of his home, the ship. His discovery of the town is portrayed with slapstick humour and fond poetry, making him much like the brave, determined and silent heroes of the movies of Buster Keaton. This is a lovely way to remind children that behind adults’ appearance of certainty, there are tender hearts full of affection – and sometimes that can make them quite clumsy.
