‘Boatbuilders’ Review: A Mellow Maine Boatyard Study That Offers All the Quiet Rewards of Fine Craftsmanship in Action

Luke Lorentzen's subtly pleasurable documentary meticulously follows the construction — from the ground up and then to the sea — of a single sailing yacht over 16 months.

By Guy Lodge

Guy Lodge

Film Critic

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There are few things as calmingly enjoyable as the modest, closeup spectacle of an expert craftsman at work. Whether the trade is cooking or carpentry, watching them ply their trade with equal parts ease and intense concentration is both gratifyingly instructional and escapist: a hands-off education in something you’ll never be able to do as well. “Boatbuilders” offers these pleasures in spades: Watching Luke Lorentzen‘s warmly observational documentary, you may find yourself more mesmerized than you’d ever have expected to be by the incremental, piece-by-piece construction of a 56-foot luxury sailing yacht, made for a client in whom we couldn’t be less invested. It’s the craftsmen that carry “Boatbuilders”; their scuffed, gnarled hands make light work of it.

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