Review by James Lindorf
The directing duo of Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin are used to bringing extraordinary feats of human endurance and tenacity to the big screen. With several wonderful documentaries already under their belts, including “Meru,” “The Rescue,” “Return to Space,” and, of course, the Oscar-winning “Free Solo,” they are branching out into a narrative story based on actual events with “Nyad.” The film is constructed around a screenplay from newcomer Julia Cox, adapted from Diana Nyad’s memoir “Find a Way.” “Nyad,” a story 45 years in the making, will have a two-week theatrical run beginning on October 20th before finding its permanent home on Netflix on November 3rd.
In 1978, 28-year-old Diana Nyad unsuccessfully attempted to swim 110 miles from Cuba to the Florida Keys. After being pulled from the water, Nyad declared that the marathon swim, often called the “Mount Everest” of swims, was impossible. Nyad went on to have a great career in broadcasting but always missed the excitement of being in the spotlight. At 60, fear and frustration finally boiled over, and for the next four years, she became obsessed with completing the epic swim. Diana (four-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening) will need a team pushing and guiding her to complete the swim. With her best friend and coach Bonnie Stoll (two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster) and a dedicated sailing team led by navigator John Bartlett (Rhys Ifans), Diana will risk everything to achieve her dream.
Unsurprisingly, Chai Vasarhelyi and Chin easily make multiple attempts at a 50+ hour swim, a dynamic event. It is their bread and butter, after all. However, getting people to feel comfortable being themselves in front of the camera differs from getting a dramatic performance from an actor. If pressed, the directors may be able to dream of a better trio, but the chances of it materializing would be next to impossible. Bening, Foster, and Ifans have decades of experience and limitless talent, not to mention a boatload of statues and even more nominations. Working with a fantastic cast is one advantage; another is that as a directing team, they can spread out the new tasks or collaborate on the best way to tackle a current challenge. The final advantage was having another acclaimed trio in editor Christopher Tellefsen (Moneyball, The Menu), cinematographer Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi, Top Gun: Maverick), and composer Alexandre Desplat (Argo, The King’s Speech) joining them behind the camera.
Production companies Black Bear Pictures and Mad Chance assembled a dream team to support the newcomers, resulting in a strong film with just a few nits that need to be picked. The teams’ experience on the open water looks fantastic, and it is disappointing that with a rare chance to highlight the beauty of Cuba, they created a movie that feels like it could have been filmed anywhere near a coast. The second nit comes from an artistic choice that expands on Diana’s fatigue-induced hallucinations. These moments, while brief, feel wholly disconnected from the rest of the film. They do nothing to inform on Diana’s emotional state or the struggle of the swim. They even fail to serve as a comedic element to break the tension created by a task that could easily claim her life. Enjoyment of the segment may vary, but given the chance to make a fan edit, I would remove it entirely.
The final nit is the largest, and it is the fact that the main character is largely two-dimensional and entirely unlikeable. Diana and Bonnie are supposed to have a friendship for the ages, but that is never depicted on screen. Diana is almost universally miserable to be around. She is obsessive, self-centered, and emotionally abusive to Bonnie and the team. The turnaround near the climax of the film is perfunctory at best. It was almost as if Cox, and perhaps Nyad herself, couldn’t commit to making her both the hero and the villain of this story. This may be why a sexual assault C plot was also included. The trauma is presented almost exclusively through flashbacks; it is used to try and explain Diana’s current actions, but they never discuss how her inability to process her trauma has affected her and caused her to harm the people closest to her. The moments in a great sports movie that give you chills or cheer as the good guys win, and the underdog proves triumphant are stunted here because Diana is such a difficult character to connect to. The ambition, drive, and outcome are admirable, but they couldn’t make me care that she achieved her dream. It was just something I watched happen.
Netflix continues to have a substantial build-up into awards season with “Nyad” following last month’s “Fair Play.” Ifans would be the longest shot, but the entire acting trio could be up for an Oscar if Netflix decides to push for it in the coming months. “Nyad” is a film I want to love, but I struggle to get past just really liking it. One of the best things about sports movies is their re-watchability. We all know what is going to happen, but it is the way the journey makes us feel that makes them special. While “Nyad” is an acting tour de force, it isn’t an emotional one; for that, it drops from the realm of perfection to a very good 4 out of 5.
