Swimming

Movies churned out by Hollywood that pretend to explore the inner lives of characters often have them talking ad nauseam about their `feelings,' with a perspective on themselves that a good therapist rarely has. In Swimming, director Robert Siegel allows us to discover and experience the character and the film, rather than shoving it all down our throats.

With honesty and subtlety, Swimming captures a pivotal time in everybody's lives when we're caught between youth and adulthood. It's told from the point of view of a young woman, played to perfection by the amazing Lauren Ambrose, who, after her work in this film, is movie star material.

Swimming also eschews the usual cheesy sappiness and manages to be genuinely sweet, charming, and truly uplifting, not to mention funny. It's also great to see an indie film which is smart and sophisticated, without feeling it has to be `hip.'

If you're looking for a bubble gum teen film, then stay away from Swimming; but if you want to see a movie that respects your intelligence and will have you feeling better about life, this movie is for you.

Great production, strong script, beautiful cinematography, graceful direction, and every performance is terrific.

I loved the way this movie delved into relationships between people. Compared to some coming-of-age movies, where characters seem to fall in and out of love at the drop of a hat, I thought this movie did a great job of helping you reflect on what qualities attract us to other people. Also, I found the sometimes quirky characters appealing and realistic. Overall, it was an engaging story of an adolescent's girls search for identity.

ANYONE that has ever been to Myrtle Beach, SC can relate to this movie more than the average viewer. There is something in the air almost that generates youth and nostalgia through you while visiting and when you leave you are never quite the same. In the opening reel you see young teenagers cruising the boulevard and haunting by-passers on the beach that make one realize in a single instant while there (a place where we all connect) just how many people we pass by never getting to know.

This film touches greatly on rich characters... Franky the main character is deep and forlorn. We are directly put into someones shoes through her of how it must be to actually "live" in a place we all wish we could stay. Instead of being the "vacationers" as in most movies we get to see a residents point of view. An exceptional character is also the girl who seemingly befriends Franky, coming in to town shaking her up and confusing her just when she thought she wanted a little bit of change. This girl is a true character she symbolizes most people and how they are clueless to most depth of life.. she can be described as those shallow "fly-by-night" people that we have all encountered that you wish and think might stay but in the end they never do. Franky's romantic involvement with new-age hippi Heath is right-on target and pulls the story to its closure.

The main point of the story is very much what I described near the beginning. In the movie Franky never swims, even being asked 5 or 6 times. Near the end she simply states that it would be weird if she leaves because she will not have the ocean to swim in, as it has always been in her own backyard. This is the eye-opening truth in all of our lives... we take for granted what others see. And just like her old friendship with Nicola that seemed tired when the new girl arrived... Franky got a taste of not dealing with Nicola but soon realized that you can't easily say goodbye to something you will always remember.

This movie is highly under-rated (as are alot of non-blockbusters these days). It is great to see a movie filmed in the South at one of the best and most popular beaches in the world. "Shag" (Another great movie) was also filmed in Myrtle Beach, however it is taken from the "visitors" point of view and we don't get to see and feel what it is like to be trapped in somewhere so wonderful and still want out.

'Swimming' is a little different than other movies in the genre. You expect certain things to happen but they don't. Frankie (Lauren Ambrose) and Nicola (Jennifer Dundas Lowe) live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and are best friends. Frankie is co-owner of a burger stand together with her brother Neil (Josh Pais). Nicola has a piercing stand next to the burger stand. A friend of them, Brad (James Villemaire) has a new girlfriend Josee (Joelle Carter) and she gets a job in the burger stand although Neil thinks she is the worst waitress he has ever seen.

Frankie and Josee become good friends and Nicola gets jealouse. May be Frankie and Josie are even attracted to each other. They are not sure and the watcher isn't sure either. Nicola says that Josee has an affair with Neil, who has a wife and two kids. Then Frankie meets Heath (Jamie Harrold) who lives in a van with his two dogs and is in love with her. Frankie isn't sure what she wants and feels.

The movie is good enough because the clichés are only used for a more interesting story. We see how uncertain Frankie is about her sexuality, how unsure she is. Lauren Ambrose gives a very fine performance. The rest of the cast is good too. I think the movie could have had a better ending but it was definitely not a bad one. Pretty good and a lot better than I expected it to be.

I suppose this is a coming of age movie, and that it therefore ought to show some maturation in its principal subject. But, heck, "Swimming" does.

Frankie starts out almost devoid of self-confidence, hiding her body in baggy clothes and her self behind her older brother and his bossiness, letting her friends boss her too, unless one of them asks her to assert herself, become conspicuous, risk rejection.

Thanks to new relationships, with a girl who, despite having some good and loving impulses, is using her attractiveness to manipulate both Frankie and her older brother, and with a somewhat goofy guy who is not at all manipulative, Frankie finds the grit to stand up to her brother and to both her old girlfriend and her new one -- to assert herself and to act to change her world. She even finds the courage to cut her old friend a lot of slack.

The setting of the story and the secondary characters are almost too gritty and "realistic," but all the actors -- and especially Lauren Ambrose -- perform well and even a weird Marine (Anthony Ruivivar, now playing in "Third Watch" on TV) is almost believable.

I enjoyed this movie a lot! I must add that I am grateful to Sundance for showing this film on TV.