Nyad

Nyad tells the story of sixty-four-year-old marathon swimmer Diana Nyad as she attempts to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida.

So, as I mentioned in my review of Maestro, there are certain types of films that I generally avoid seeing sight unseen because they just don’t interest me at this point, and most years, Nyad would be one of them, as I’d consider as falling under category #2, the “plucky loser sports team does good” type of film, but… as I also mentioned in my review of Maestro, I’m trying to see as many of the Oscar nominees as I can before the big night, and Nyad boasts two nominations: Best Actress for Annette Bening as Diana Nyad, and Best Supporting Actress for Jodie Foster as Bonnie Stoll.

So, I watched it.

And it’s… fine. It’s not bad. It’s what you expect it to be.

Diana Nyad is very driven and very self-centered. She is impatient, declarative, and given to pontification. She’s used to being the center of attention. She’s used to being acknowledged. She’s a giant ham, blowing her trumpet, and shouting “Courage!” in a French accent, with a fist raised in the air.

A world-renowned swimmer, as a young woman, she once tried to swim from Cuba to Florida, a feat never before accomplished by anyone in history, but she failed. Decades later, she’s now seeing the creeping shadow of her own mortality in the mirror, feeling her fate looming of having lived a life that, she believes, still lacks a truly noteworthy capstone. The idea that she once took her shot and missed, and that this might be all that she’ll be known for, haunts her. Then, she reads the Mary Oliver poem titled “The Summer Day,” and the last line about “your one wild and precious life,” grabs ahold of her, and sets her on the course of taking one last shot at immortality.

At sixty-four years of age, Diana Nyad decides to attempt to the swim from Cuba to Florida once again.

Bonnie Stoll, meanwhile, is Diana Nyad’s ride or die, her long-time confidant and ready sounding board, her grounding element. She is Diana’s voice of reason and her rock of support. Bonnie endures. She deals. She just about the only person who can both put up with, and also shut down, Diana’s bullshit. The pair are best friends and stalwart companions. Bonnie loves Diana as more than a friend, more than a lover, more than a sister, Diana is her person, and Bonnie is Diana’s. Although, while Diana does depend on Bonnie completely, Bonnie is aware that Diana doesn’t need her in the same way that she needs Diana.

Still, Bonnie is there. Always.

Now in their sixties, they’re both feeling like they’re fading away, and they’re looking for a way to feel alive again. So they put together a ragtag crew, and headed to Cuba so that Diana can once again try to be the first person to make that long swim. Everyone says it’s impossible, all the time, over and over again in this film, sometimes shouting it dramatically right to Diana’s face too, but she’s doing it anyway.

Or at least trying…

She fails three more times before finally making it.

On August 31, 2013, Diana Nyad began her fifth attempt to swim from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida, a distance of about 110 miles. On September 2, 2013, after about 53 hours in the water, she finally reaches Key West.

Huzzah!

As a film, Nyad is a bit broad, a bit obvious, sure, but it’s still inspiring, you still feel that swelling of emotion in your chest at times. Yes, you know exactly what’s going to happen, but it’s still a fun watch. This is some real life superhero shit here. At 64 years old, it’s obvious that Diana Nyad is some kind of a mutant fish woman.

She’s basically a real life Aquawoman.

She even wears a crazy outfit.

Good lord, that thing is unsettling…

Anyway, the things that make Nyad more than just the usual “sports underdog does good” fare are pretty much the same reasons why I decided to watch the film in the first place, the performances from Annette Bening and Jodie Foster.

Bening disappears into Nyad, really digging into the swimmer’s oblivious self-centered narcissism, wrapping it in a shield of seemingly unflappable confidence in herself, a not unexpected trait when it comes to an elite level athlete, but it’s a trait that also shatters easily, exposing her desperate need for validation, and the self-doubt that is simmering beneath it all. Bening strides headlong into this portrayal with a determined stance, a raised chin, and an agressive attitude, clearly showing Diana’s whole approach to the world, an obvious intent to trample everything before her, quickly, irrevocably, before she might fail again. It’s really great stuff.

But perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s Foster who really dominates the picture. She’s portrays Bonnie as very easy-natured, very warm and friendly. She’s supporting and understanding, a loyal and loving friend. There’s a determination there, a fierce drive, but there’s also a need. Bonnie needs Diana. Her whole being is devoted to holding up Diana, for caring for her, for keeping her together. It’s mentioned that the two once dated and that now they’re just friends, and it’s clear that Bonnie still carries a torch of sorts, and that her continual focus on being there for Diana is really just her way of keeping her close, and of course, Foster nails this nuance, it’s clear in everything that Bonnie says and does.

Individually, they’re both fantastic, obviously, of course they are, but together they have a real natural chemistry. These are two veteran actors, and their character skills are fully on display here, so it’s great just watching them interact. It’s so completely believable that they are life long friends.

In real life, Diana Nyad’s swim from Cuba to Florida wasn’t ratified due to alleged “incomplete documentation and conflicting crew reports” and also, there’s apparently a conflict with the rules from an organization responsible for the ratification that did not exist at the time of the swim. Because of all this, Guinness World Records rejected Nyad's achievement. I didn’t dive too deep into this controversy, but I will say that the seemingly central question as to whether or not Nyad wearing a Jellyfish protection suit means that her swim was “assisted,” and therefore does not count, seems like the usual kind of bullshit that women and people of color often encounter from these kinds of establishments…

So, that’s disappointing, but not surprising.

But, this also highlights a part of the film that’s noticeably missing once you start reading about Diana Nyad, which is her allegedly notorious dishonesty, or at least, her tendency to overly-embellish things.

Maybe the filmmakers just didn’t want to cast any doubts on the accusations of rape that she, along with other members of her high school swim-team, made against their swim coach, which is understandable, but that aside, there’s apparently a long history of her fabricating her accomplishments in ways that seem to be easy to disprove. The film does makes a few references to this tendency, but it’s mostly from Bonnie, and it’s mostly done in an affectionate way, as she teases Diana over her embellishment of an oft-repeated anecdote, but other than that, there’s not much else about it.

I can understand why the doubt over whether or not she actually accomplished an “unassisted” swim was left out, obviously. Much like the documentary King of Kong, it’s just a better story when the hero goes out on top as a champion, but still… I have to wonder if that’s a valid story to tell here, especially once you watch the credits, and it becomes apparent that Diana Nyad was heavily involved in making this film. That fact, coupled with the honest insights into Nyad’s character that you can glean from Bening’s portrayal, makes me wonder if maybe the story would’ve been much more interesting if Diana Nyad hadn’t been involved…

But, it is what it is, I guess.

In the end, that’s the thing about “underdog sports” movies, right? The meat is always contained in the drama of the win, but it’s a win that’s honestly never in doubt, so that drama always kind of rings false.

This is basically why I generally avoid them.

Still, overall, the film is not bad. Yes, it does exactly what you expect it to do. Yes, it’s very typical. Yes, it’s a big piece of fluff, but…

It’s a pretty fun piece of fluff.