Swimmers (film)
| Swimmers | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Doug Sadler |
| Produced by |
Melanie Backer David Leitner Michael Yanko |
| Written by | Doug Sadler |
| Starring |
Tara Devon Gallagher Sarah Paulson Robert Knott Cherry Jones Shawn Hatosy |
| Narrated by | Tara Devon Gallagher |
|
Release date
|
2005 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
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."
Set in a small waterfront town in coastal Maryland, 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.
Swimmers was an official selection of 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 Miller sense of drama with emotive Edward Hopperesque photography. Swimmers draws us in as naturally as the tide with the sharp reflections of its truth and humanity."
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