Right off the bat, SWIMMING, the latest indie to air on Reel 13, earns points with some of its casting. Lauren Ambrose is one of our finest young actors and even though she was particularly young when she made this film, she provides the film with the grounded anchor it so desperately needs. Her large, deep eyes convey layers upon layers of emotion and character detail. If not for Ambrose and, to some degree, talented nebbish actor Josh Pais in a strong supporting role, SWIMMING wouldn't come close to saying afloat.
To be simplistic about it, SWIMMING is mostly dull and meandering. Ambrose plays Franky, a plain, shy young woman, who is stuck in a rut and is dying to escape the resort town of Myrtle Beach, SC where she grew up. The film follows one particular summer when two different wanderers enter her life the knockout blonde waitress Josee (Joelle Carter) and a stoner, tie-dye shirt salesman Heath (Jamie Harrold). She is drawn to both of them, both spiritually and sexually, as they appeal to her sense of adventure the kind of excitement she lacks in her life. The problem, however, is that both characters are written two-dimensionally and despite being pleasing to the eye, aren't appealing enough to the audience for us to support Ambrose pursuing either relationship. One can't help but hope for her to escape into a different movie.
From a stylistic point of view, SWIMMING isn't without merit. It's a very quiet, deliberate film, which is often nice, but it could have used the occasional injection of energy. Overall, I thought the editing was strong. Director Robert Siegel made the bold choice of cutting out of many scenes a beat or two early than you'd expect. This was never jarring, but instead, was effective and efficient. More often than not, directors linger in scenes past where they need to. Siegel shows you what he needs to and then moves on. I also thought that he handled Franky's sexual confusion with tact and restraint. Frequently, relationships between attractive lesbians in films can feel exploitive formulated for shock value or titillation instead for truth of plot and character. SWIMMING thankfully avoided that pitfall.
I want to be clear and point out that I didn't hate SWIMMING. However, it failed to capture my imagination in any way that left a lingering impact on me. In spite of Ambrose's presence, the film truthfully just wasn't very interesting. I found myself indifferent to the conflicts within the film and to the plights of the various characters. While I see that the director's intentions were to provide a slice-of-life, coming-of-age type tale that avoided melodrama and high concept storytelling, that doesn't relieve him of his duty to make us care.
(For more information on this or any other Reel 13 film, check out their website at www.reel13.org)
