Nyad (2023)

A journalist and former champion swimmer (Annette Bening) failed in her attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida in 1978. In her 60s, she attempts once again to do the Cuba/Florida swim in 2011. Based on the autobiography FIND A WAY by Diana Nyad and directed by documentarians Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (FREE SOLO) in their narrative film debut. I was genuinely surprised how much I liked this movie. I was expecting the superlative performances by Annette Bening and Jodie Foster which anchor the movie but I didn't have much enthusiasm for the film itself going in. I mean how exciting can all that swimming be and I knew the eventual outcome of the film. But directors Vasarhelyi and Chin bring an intensity to the film that pulls you in and holds you. Bening (and the script) don't try to whitewash Diana Nyad into some sort of lovable underdog heroine. Bening plays her as a self promoting, self absorbed bitch with an air of superiority! But you still root for her. Controversies about the authenticity of Nyad's claims aside, it really doesn't matter (to me anyway). It's about female friendship and not letting an ageist society write you off before your time. There's a nice score by the wonderful Alexandre Desplat. With Rhys Ifans and Eric T. Miller.