“Isn’t it strange, to name a planet Earth. When 70% of it is covered in water.”

Story: A look at our oceans, especially the deep sea, and all the creatures we don’t even know. As countries push forward with deep sea mining, how many of these creatures will we lose? An intrepid group of marine scientists try their best to discover, research, and name as many of these animals as possible. Because tomorrow may be too late.

Genre I’d put it in: Fascinating Natural World Documentaries
Release Date: 2025
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Original!

Gotta say: When most girls were dreaming of horses or tiaras, my weird self was dreaming of becoming an ichthyologist. Forcing my parents to go to fish hatcheries, aquariums, and seashores, reading up on weird marine biology books from book sales. Good times. I say all this to drive home the point that I am an incredible nerd. (Surprise.) I eat up science goodness. Which, obviously, led me to becoming a movie reviewer. Obviously. All this to say, I absolutely ate up every single moment of Love, and anyone who has even the slightest interest in what goes on in the deep dark parts of our oceans will do exactly the same.

That said, this film won’t be for everyone. Then again, if you pop yourself down and expect Marvel movie action? Honey, I’m sorry; this is a documentary, not an action joint. However, Love did keep me on the edge of my seat when Our Gang of scientists collected their deep sea specimens. Will that sea cucumber get into the box? (Nope. But look at it go!) Will the brittle star movie in the slinkiest runway crawl ever? (YES.) And did these scientists actually give an animal the common name of “Headless Chicken Monster”? (Of course. Because these scientists are a blast.)

Getting to see all these creatures is worth the price of admission by itself, but the spectacularly gorgeous shots of deep sea creatures are above and beyond anything I could have hoped for from a documentary film. Kudos to writer/director/narrator Eleanor Mortimer, who not only edits this film with an eye on building anticipation – see my previous paragraph – but managed to use the very best shots of animals none of us regulars would ever hope to lay our eyes on. Bonus; her voice? Like butter. I could listen to her read the phone book.

Mortimer switches from the scientists who are desperately trying to catalogue these animals before the very real possibility of deep sea mining destroys not only their habitat but the animals themselves, to the 28th meeting of the International Seabed Authority, who are trying to figure out if the practice of deep sea mining should be banned, held to certain standards, or left alone. As a species, we seem to love putting our stamp onto anything and everything, damn the torpedoes. Love shows us that our actions have literal consequences. The last expedition to this area of the deep sea was in the 70s, yet the tracks from the exploratory module are there, as if the mud had been dug into yesterday. Don’t even get me started on the bit of trash Our Gang finds along the prior researchers’ route.

Come to Love for a fascinating look at animals that very few others have seen, or will ever see. Stay for the thoughtful look at what deep sea mining is, what we know about it, and what we don’t. After watching this doc, I hope we can learn as much as possible about both mining, and the creatures it will surely impact.

#Protip: Wanna know about the International Seabed Authority? Here you go. More about deep sea mining in general? I’ve got you, sweetie. Read up.