Aboard the Finnish marine research vessel Aranda, life is governed by the insistent pitch and roll of ocean waves. The existential explorers on this ship both observe and exemplify the way that mariners adapt to their alien, cobalt blue surroundings—surrendering to the rhythmic pull of deep ocean currents that take 1,600 years to travel around the globe. In this entrancing film, silence only begrudgingly gives way to words in the forms of letters written to loved ones at home or when ecstasy erupts over million-year-old ice cubes. The film’s visual restraint and rigorous cinematography may generate comparisons to the work of Stanley Kubrick, yet Aranda celebrates without irony the human, the machine, and nature in equal measure. The ship itself becomes personified through its humble mechanical operations, and grants viewers a sweet release from the frenetic pace of our networked lives.  MP