TIFF '23: Bening swims for gold in "Nyad"

by Cláudio Alves 

Amid arthouse offerings and experimental fare, daring feats of international cinema and midnight madness, the traditional Oscar movie can have a hard time standing out. Still, coexistence is possible, and there's always that beautiful occurrence, once every blue moon, when a festival's boldest piece is its most likely to succeed with awards. I wish I could say Nyad was that movie, but Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi's narrative feature debut falls short of such lofty expectations. Yet, don't let this curmudgeon film critic's dissatisfaction dissuade you from predicting it in several categories. Sink or swim, Nyad is going for gold…

The true story of Diana Nyad is one of inspirational perseverance or dangerous pigheadedness, depending on how you look at it. Though her career as a long-distance swimmer started early, when she was still in her twenties, the reason a movie's been made about the New York-born maverick lies in what, for most, would be the second chapter of her life. In 1979, at the age of 30, Nyad failed to make the ambitious Cuba to Florida swim she had anticipated as the last and most crowning achievement of an already impressive career. By 2010, now in her 60s, she returned to that dream, training herself back to a state where she could survive the endeavor. 

It took four tries, spaced between 2011 and 2013, before she made it from Havana to Key West, victorious over the ocean. Such a fantastic achievement wasn't without drawbacks, and Nyad was in danger at several points in the process. Moreover, the entire thing was only possible with the tireless aid of a team led by the swimmer's personal friend and coach, Bonnie Stoll. Driven to the brink by a woman on a mission, the ordeal might have been as traumatic for them as it was for Nyad – a fact the new Netflix movie does nothing to conceal.

Indeed, though Julia Cox's script falls into every cliché of by-the-numbers biopics, the figure at its center remains surprisingly unlikable. Prone to speechifying, the titular athlete (Annette Bening) is a brisk personality with a penchant for self-mythologizing, an egoist who takes up all the air in the room and carries herself with the presence of a god among mortals. She'll be the first to tell you her name means water nymph, presaging a glorious fate. Even if she's already told you, talk of destiny is bound to repeat, for the spotlight's warmth is where she's most comfortable—well, there and in the water. That isolating expanse where nothingness becomes everything is its own siren call.

Sometimes, it feels like we're seeing someone striving to be the classic inspirational sports movie hero while their innate nature holds them back from fitting into the mold. Annette Bening, for all that she plays the part with golden hunger in her eye, doesn't smooth over the sharp edges to better position herself for prizes. Unlike almost every element of Nyad, its leading actress is willing to take risks and make bold choices, threatening alienation when comfort would have been much easier to produce. Moreover, since the edit keeps inserting footage of the real Nyad - beyond the movie proper and into its credits - it's easy to commend Bening for resisting mimesis.

Her performance isn't so much an impersonation of Diana Nyad as a synthetization of the aspects of her personality on which the script hinges, playing them up to the cheap seats. The result is a jagged configuration, often falling into the artifice of someone perpetually self-conscious of their public perception and trying their best to project icon-like magnetism. Then, on the brink of death, exhaustion reveals a catatonic emptiness. Despite the conventional movie around it, it's a portrayal that feels a step or two removed from the standard stogy Oscar vehicle for actresses of a certain age. And truth be told, Bening might have felt compelled to take risks where she could since the role is somewhat limited.

Nyad (cinematography by Claudio Miranda)

As it reaches the 45-minute mark, Nyad starts focusing single-mindedly on the four last tries at the Cuba to Florida swim. During these sequences, the situation requires that Bening be a body in motion and little else, her face obscured by splashing water, later by a protective mask to keep the swimmer safe from jellyfish stings. When this happens, Jodie Foster's Bonnie Stoll becomes our access point into the drama. Her reactions are so vital to the structure that, at times, the quintessentially supporting friend role becomes akin to a co-lead. She has further dispelled any notion of mannerism or affectation, contrasting with Bening and stealing the picture along the way.

The two actresses' dissimilar approaches to the material represent the best reason to consider Nyad, though it's really the makeup team's job that should be getting the biggest awards push. Sadly, the rest of the movie falls short, going around in circles of repetition that congeal into redundancy. DP Claudio Miranda does his best, but the director duo's strategies are too limited, making a film set in the vastness of open waters feel studio-small. And that doesn't even get us to the kitschy CGI elements thrown about, the unnecessary flashbacks to childhood, or the heavy-handed music demanding your emotional investment at gunpoint. Still, taking Nyad as a whole, its biggest disappointment might be how, despite the cast's efforts, the story never broaches surface-level interest. The movie stays in shallow waters, never venturing beyond, into the deep and the truly cinematic. 

Nyad opens theatrically on October 20th before it hits streaming on November 3rd.

Comments

[McGill]

I also saw this at TIFF.

It made me remember the cool incise way Bening approaches her characters. With her character’s body all flayed and puffy and wild eyed with water hallucinations, Bening isn’t a vain actress. Nor does she beg for the audience’s approval. She’s a professional (and a brainy one) with a focus on character.

And yet... I preferred Jodie Foster, who I see as a co-lead. It isn’t exactly a question of the character’s “likeabilty”, it’s that Diana is so predictable and always the same. Bonnie is the one who goes on the interior journey, who really thinks about what’s happening.

Sports movies and endurance tests aren’t usually a preferred genre for me, and if I was streaming this, I would have turned it off.

But for her amazing physical work and attention to character, I think Bening would be a worthy nominee in the awards season.

[Cláudio Alves]

McGill -- Oh, to be clear, I think allowing the character to read as "unlikeable" is one of the movie's strong aspects, mostly due to Bening. Sorry if that didn't come across in the review.

[Mr Ripley79]

I'm in for a treat actressing wise.

Does Jodie have a shot with Oscar.

[McGill]

Cláudio, yes I know what you mean and I agree. I was the one who wasn’t clear.

I like this about Bening’s performance as well.

[dharsan priya]

Best blog to read.