Swimmers (film)
Encyclopedia
Swimmers is a 2005
American
independent
drama
about a waterman's family on Chesapeake Bay
's eastern shore. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival
on January 22, 2005 and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best New American Film from the Seattle International Film Festival
. The title and theme of the film were inspired by the Latin
name for the Chesapeake Bay's indigenous Maryland blue crab – Callinectes sapidus – Callinectes translates as "beautiful swimmers."
, Swimmers is a film that focuses on Emma Tyler, a fiercely intelligent and observant 11-year old who develops an ear problem requiring surgery that the Tylers can ill afford. Emma's father, Will, drinks a lot and lives hand to mouth as a waterman. Her mother, Julia, has become a miserable soul, trying to keep a household together on meager funds. She also suspects that Will is having an affair.
Grounded, literally, from her favorite pastime, swimming, Emma is forced to look for alternative ways to pass those lazy summer days. When no one seems to be very interested in talking to Emma, she finds friendship with a troubled young woman, Merrill, who has returned to town looking to deal with her past. The sweetly innocent Emma allows the world-weary Merrill in some ways to reconnect with her own lost innocence, while Merrill, for her part, provides an oasis for Emma, who feels invisible at home in the eyes of her struggling parents. Added to this volatile mix of domestic strife is a love story desperately trying to emerge between Merrill and one of Emma's older brothers Clyde. However, Merrill's ugly past and pathologic need to be used threatens to resurface and destroy her newfound sense of purity.
Will and Julia love their daughter immensely, but suffer from the financial woes of a poor fishing season, the sudden loss of Will's boat and Will's fierce pride in not having to ask for handouts.
sense of drama with emotive Edward Hopper
esque photography. Swimmers draws us in as naturally as the tide with the sharp reflections of its truth and humanity."
Daniel Wible of Film Threat
described the film as "idyllically filmed" and having "a wonderfully evocative sense of place." Commenting on the film's water motif
, Wible said, "Sadler and cinematographer Rodney Taylor draw exquisite visual parallels between the gentle rise and fall of the tide and the banal rhythms of daily seaside life. Their use of water as a timeless surrogate for life, hope, and even death, is particularly interesting, if not entirely original." About the performances, Wible said, "the film's cast is uniformly authentic and mesmerizing" but that, "Swimmers is ultimately young Tara Devon Gallagher's film. The rookie actress improbably delivers a profoundly mature performance that belies her experience."
Desson Thomson of Washingtonpost.com said overall, "Swimmers is an unhurried delight with persuasive performances, particularly from the beguiling Gallagher. And it evokes a memorable world -- dark mornings on the Chesapeake as watermen take out their chugging boats; silhouettes on piers; and the glistening of wriggling crabs in the sun."
The film currently has an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
.
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
independent
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
about a waterman's family on Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
's eastern shore. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
on January 22, 2005 and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best New American Film from the Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
. The title and theme of the film were inspired by the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
name for the Chesapeake Bay's indigenous Maryland blue crab – Callinectes sapidus – Callinectes translates as "beautiful swimmers."
Casting
- Tara Devon Gallagher plays the pivotal role of 11-year-old Emma Tyler, whose passion for swimming is suddenly disrupted by an ear injury requiring expensive surgery. Although Gallagher never had an acting class before – much less ever acted, she beat out hundreds of other preteens from New York, Los Angeles and Maryland. Producers said that they were blown away in her initial audition when they asked her to improvise a line of dialog in the script. Sadler says, "it was clear she was seeing and experiencing those things in her mind's eye."
- Robert Knott as Will Tyler, a Chesapeake Bay waterman who struggles to hold onto his livelihood. Sadler discovered Knott through actor Ed HarrisEd HarrisEdward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
, who had served as one of Sadler’s advisors at the Sundance Institute Directing Workshop and had previously cast Knott as his brother in his critically acclaimed film, PollockPollock (film)Pollock is a 2000 biographical drama film which tells the life story of painter Jackson Pollock. It stars Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Robert Knott, Bud Cort, Molly Regan, Marcia Gay Harden and Sada Thompson.-Plot:...
. Harris was so impressed with the Swimmers script that he had shown it to Knott before there was any discussion about who would play Will Tyler in the film. - Cherry JonesCherry JonesCherry Jones is an American actress and recipient of the 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.-Career:...
as Julia Tyler, the fiercely-determined wife of Will Tyler. Jones says of her character, "She's the matriarch of a family who's bottoming out, and she has got to be the glue that binds everything together." - Shawn HatosyShawn HatosyShawn Wayne Hatosy is an actor with over 40 film and television credits to his name.-Personal life:Hatosy was born in Frederick, Maryland, the son of Carol , a loan officer, and Wayne Hatosy, a graphic designer and event planning director...
as Clyde Tyler, the second son who becomes the town’s patrolman rather than a waterman like his dad. From the moment Hatosy received the script for Swimmers he said the story really affected him, saying "The story and the way Doug wrote it – from the perspective of the little girl – just found its way into me." Being from Maryland originally, Hatosy also had a real soft spot for anything that has to do with his homestate. Aware that the production would be auditioning actors the following week, he called producer Melanie Backer and persuaded her to accompany him to a screening of his latest film, Dallas 362Dallas 362Dallas 362 is a 2003 film, starring and directed by Scott Caan. This film was Caan's debut as a director.The movie won the Critics Award at the 2003 CineVegas International Film Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Plot:...
. Backer, who was already a Hatosy fan from his work in Outside ProvidenceOutside ProvidenceOutside Providence is an English language novel by writer, producer, and director Peter Farrelly, published in 1988.-Plot summary:Largely an autobiographical tale, the novel revolves around Timothy "Dildo" Dunphy, a ne'er-do-well from the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, which borders Providence...
immediately arranged a meeting with writer-director Doug Sadler. Several hours later, Hatosy had the role. - Sarah PaulsonSarah Paulson-Career:She was a series regular on the cult television show American Gothic and the WB series Jack & Jill , playing the character "Elisa Cronkite"...
as Merrill, the mysterious, kohl-eyed beauty who suddenly turns up in town in a desperate attempt to understand her own emotionally troubled past. Swimmers casting director Ellen Parks first spotted Paulson in the 1998 off-Broadway hit, Killer JoeKiller JoeKiller Joe is the second album by Jimmy Osmond, released in 1972 on MGM Records. He was credited on the album as Little Jimmy Osmond. The first single from this album, "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool", reached #1 on the U.K...
, with Scott GlennScott GlennTheodore Scott Glenn is an American actor. His roles have included Wes Hightower in Urban Cowboy , astronaut Alan Shepard in The Right Stuff ,Emmett in Silverado , Commander Bart Mancuso in The Hunt for Red October , Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs and The Wise Man in Sucker Punch -Early...
and Amanda Plummer.
Plot
Set in a small waterfront town in coastal MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Swimmers is a film that focuses on Emma Tyler, a fiercely intelligent and observant 11-year old who develops an ear problem requiring surgery that the Tylers can ill afford. Emma's father, Will, drinks a lot and lives hand to mouth as a waterman. Her mother, Julia, has become a miserable soul, trying to keep a household together on meager funds. She also suspects that Will is having an affair.
Grounded, literally, from her favorite pastime, swimming, Emma is forced to look for alternative ways to pass those lazy summer days. When no one seems to be very interested in talking to Emma, she finds friendship with a troubled young woman, Merrill, who has returned to town looking to deal with her past. The sweetly innocent Emma allows the world-weary Merrill in some ways to reconnect with her own lost innocence, while Merrill, for her part, provides an oasis for Emma, who feels invisible at home in the eyes of her struggling parents. Added to this volatile mix of domestic strife is a love story desperately trying to emerge between Merrill and one of Emma's older brothers Clyde. However, Merrill's ugly past and pathologic need to be used threatens to resurface and destroy her newfound sense of purity.
Will and Julia love their daughter immensely, but suffer from the financial woes of a poor fishing season, the sudden loss of Will's boat and Will's fierce pride in not having to ask for handouts.
Reception
Swimmers was an official selection of the The Sundance Film Festival's American Spectrum showcase and finalist for the Humanitas Prize. The festival called the movie "a uniquely American story that combines an Arthur MillerArthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
sense of drama with emotive Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching...
esque photography. Swimmers draws us in as naturally as the tide with the sharp reflections of its truth and humanity."
Daniel Wible of Film Threat
Film Threat
Film Threat is a former print magazine and, now, webzine which focuses primarily on independent film, although it also reviews DVDs of mainstream films and Hollywood movies in theaters. It first appeared as a photocopied zine in 1985, created by Wayne State University students Chris Gore and André...
described the film as "idyllically filmed" and having "a wonderfully evocative sense of place." Commenting on the film's water motif
Motif (narrative)
In narrative, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood....
, Wible said, "Sadler and cinematographer Rodney Taylor draw exquisite visual parallels between the gentle rise and fall of the tide and the banal rhythms of daily seaside life. Their use of water as a timeless surrogate for life, hope, and even death, is particularly interesting, if not entirely original." About the performances, Wible said, "the film's cast is uniformly authentic and mesmerizing" but that, "Swimmers is ultimately young Tara Devon Gallagher's film. The rookie actress improbably delivers a profoundly mature performance that belies her experience."
Desson Thomson of Washingtonpost.com said overall, "Swimmers is an unhurried delight with persuasive performances, particularly from the beguiling Gallagher. And it evokes a memorable world -- dark mornings on the Chesapeake as watermen take out their chugging boats; silhouettes on piers; and the glistening of wriggling crabs in the sun."
The film currently has an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.