Swimming (2002)
74 %
Reviews Counted: 39 Fresh: 29 Rotten:10 Average Rating: 6.5/10
Consensus:
A refreshingly low-key coming-of-age story.
Runtime: 90 mins
Theatrical Release: Apr 5, 2002 Limited
Synopsis: It's the start of another Carolina summer, and it's becoming increasingly clear to Frankie Wheeler (Lauren Ambrose), a young local, that she wants more out of life than Myrtle Beach can offer her. She spends her days working in her family's restaurant and wastes her nights hanging out on the... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Lauren Ambrose, Jennifer Dundas Lowe, Joelle Carter, Jamie Harrold, James Villemaire
Director: Robert J. Siegel
Screenwriter: Lisa Bazadona, Robert J. Siegel, Grace Woodard
Producer: Linda Moran, Robert J. Siegel
Composer: Mark Wike
Screenwriter: Lisa Bazadona, Robert J. Siegel, Grace Woodard
Producer: Linda Moran, Robert J. Siegel
Composer: Mark Wike
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Reviews
Comment
The anti-touristy mood of Siegel's film sets it apart from other less thoughtful teen beach flicks.
11/02/03
[Siegal] proves that you don't have to be a just out of film school Gen-X'er to make a resonant and entertaining movie about young adults.
12/08/02
Unlike most teen flicks, Swimming takes its time to tell its story, casts mostly little-known performers in key roles, and introduces some intriguing ambiguity.
10/12/02
Though the material sounds complex and potentially sleep-inducing, director Robert J. Siegel paints his portrait of boredom and discontent with deft strokes.
09/25/02
A gracefully acted, unsentimental, quite likable little coming-of-age movie.
09/20/02
The film is an earnest try at beachcombing verismo, but it would be even more indistinct than it is were it not for the striking, quietly vulnerable personality of Ms. Ambrose.
09/18/02
Top Critic
The town has kind of an authentic feel, but each one of these people stand out and everybody else is in the background and it just seems manufactured to me and artificial.
09/16/02
Top Critic
Swimming isn't a major film. Nor does it try to be. But what, in the end, is a major film? If it's one that accomplishes what it sets out to do, then we ought to correct ourselves.
09/13/02
Top Critic
An unusually dry-eyed, even analytical approach to material that is generally played for maximum moisture.
09/13/02
Top Critic
Top Critic
Swimming is above all about a young woman's face, and by casting an actress whose face projects that woman's doubts and yearnings, it succeeds.
09/13/02
Top Critic
A well-crafted film that is all the more remarkable because it achieves its emotional power and moments of revelation with restraint and a delicate ambiguity.
09/12/02
Top Critic
As relationships shift, director Robert J. Siegel allows the characters to inhabit their world without cleaving to a narrative arc.
09/10/02
Top Critic
Keenly observed and refreshingly natural, Swimming gets the details right, from its promenade of barely clad bodies in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to the adrenaline jolt of a sudden lunch rush at the diner.
08/23/02
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I love swimming
by: Sardona 7/7/03
by: Sardona 7/7/03
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