‘Nyad’ profiles marathon swimmer Diana Nyad (Annette Bening) with Jodie Foster and Rhys Ifans in tow.
By Dana Barbuto/Boston Movie News
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin have created two of the best documentaries in recent years: the Oscar-winning “Free Solo” and the nail-biting “The Rescue.” They’ve mastered the “triumph-of-the-human-spirit” genre so thoroughly it seems preordained they’d select the story of ultramarathon swimmer Diana Nyad for their narrative directorial debut.
The result is a celebration of courage and resolve for a fearless woman who has tested the limits of the human mind and body by accomplishing the seemingly impossible. Her resume brims with firsts, from swimming a lap around Manhattan to traversing a stretch from the Bahamas to Florida. She retired in her prime to become an ABC sportscaster. But when she reached 60, Nyad got the itch to take on one more challenge, the 110-mile swim from Havana to Key West, known as the “Mount Everest” of swims. It was a feat she failed to complete 30 years earlier, and she felt it was time to finish what she started. Come hell or high water (or sharks and stingrays), she was not to be denied.
The screenplay by Julia Cox focuses on the four-year stretch when Nyad, with her best friend and coach, Bonnie Stoll, makes multiple attempts to complete the 52-hour swim. The narrative also delves into Nyad’s early life, recounting instances via hazy flashbacks of sexual assault by a coach and an unstable upbringing. Adapting Nyad’s memoir “Find a Way,” Cox leans heavily on this device to explore the roots of Nyad’s intense competitiveness. A little flashback goes a long way. Ditto for the script’s reliance on reminding us that “Naiad” is a water nymph in Greek mythology. We get the point.
As Nyad, four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening (will this be her fifth?), sunburned and no-frills, captures the swimmer’s overbearing personality, superiority complex, and tenacity. She once dressed down Johnny Carson during a “Tonight Show” appearance. Bening goes to great lengths to harness the physicality and psychology of her character. But she’s prickly, and her sharp words wound, making it a challenge to root for her. Even Bonnie (two-time Oscar-winner Jodie Foster) wonders why she has hung in there all these years. “Do you have any idea how exhausting you are as a friend?”
Rhys Ifans jumps onboard as John Bartlett, the expert charged with charting the best course through the weather, tides, and Caribbean currents. Ifans lends so much easy chemistry and gravitas. He is a natural as the master mariner, matching Nyad’s wrath measure for measure. Foster, as the hype woman we all want in our corner, gets saddled with rote (“you have to push through”) dialogue yet imbues warmth and humanity throughout.
The stellar cast, however, can’t disguise the fact that “Nyad” is essentially a predictable “sports movie.” This is “Rocky” with waves. From the training montage to the all-hope-is-lost climax, we all know the tale’s beats (by heart). And, well, you either love it or you don’t—and I do, especially the third-act Big Game (or fight, match, dive, race, etc.) sequence that delivers the emotional gut punch. In “Nyad,” it’s hard not to marvel over a woman of a certain age refusing to let the world decide she’s a “bag of bones” and take on such a dangerous sport. Eye of the tiger, baby.
An aside: For a good Netflix double feature on extreme female athletes beating incredible odds, cue the new free-diving documentary “The Deepest Breath” to watch after “Nyad.” You can thank me later.
‘Nyad’
Screened Oct. 10 at AMC Boston Common.
Rating: PG-13 for thematic material involving sexual abuse, some strong language, and brief partial nudity.
Cast: Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, Rhys Ifans
Directors: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin
Writer: Julia Cox
Running time: 121 minutes
Where to watch: In select theaters and on Netflix on November 3.
Grade: B
Boston Movie News 