Dressed in black, but happy anyway

In “Goth Cruise,” 150 vacationing goths join 2,500 “norms” on a really, really big ship on a trip from New Jersey to Bermuda and back. Directed by Jeanie Finlay, a recovered goth, this happy little documentary premieres today on the Independent Film Channel’s IFC Free video-on-demand channel. (The film has been running since midnight and is available locally via DirecTV and the Charter cable network.)

It’s a sweet, beautifully shot movie about people in black -- black lace, black vinyl, black hair, black nails -- people who have found the shared thing that allows them to be not like everyone else and yet not be like nobody else.

Notwithstanding a certain delight in “freaking the mundanes,” their theatrical yet heartfelt embrace of life’s dark side proves to be a way to feel not strange, but normal.

“I can bond with these people, and I can take back the word ‘freak,’ ” says Amanda, a doll-faced girl Tim Burton might have dreamed up. She was manic-depressive and bullied as a teenager. Now she’s a goth newlywed.

The contrast between Finlay’s subjects, who come in many ages and sizes, and the gaudy vessel that contains them -- it seems to have been designed as a place where a pinball machine might go for a drink -- could not be more stark.

But they’re there for vacation fun, just like the mundanes. They taste wine, cram in the hot tub, splash in the Caribbean, dance to Bauhaus -- happy, but reserving the right to be sad.

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‘Goth Cruise’

Where: IFC Free (video on demand)

When: Starting today

Rating: Not rated