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Movies / On DVD / Swimming
Swimming

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Swimming (2002)

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Reviews Counted:39

Fresh:29

Rotten:10

Average Rating:6.5/10

Consensus: A refreshingly low-key coming-of-age story.

Runtime: 90 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: It's the start of another Carolina summer, and it's becoming increasingly clear to Frankie Wheeler (Lauren Ambrose), a young local, that she wants more out of life than Myrtle Beach can offer her.... It's the start of another Carolina summer, and it's becoming increasingly clear to Frankie Wheeler (Lauren Ambrose), a young local, that she wants more out of life than Myrtle Beach can offer her. She spends her days working in her family's restaurant and wastes her nights hanging out on the boardwalk with her best friend, Nicola (Jennie Dundas Lowe), proprietor of a piercing shop and self-proclaimed trouble seeker. Frankie has always played sidekick to Nicola, so neither is prepared when two new arrivals, a young siren hired as a waitress, and a drifter selling tie-dyes out of the back of his van, court only Frankie. Nicola's ensuing jealousy sets in motion a series of betrayals driving a wedge into their friendship and forces Frankie to take a stand for herself. Swimming is an intimate look at friendship, love and breaking away, set amidst the backdrop of a bustling beach town. -- © Oceanside Pictures [More]

Starring: Lauren Ambrose, Jennifer Dundas Lowe, Joelle Carter, Jamie Harrold

Starring: Lauren Ambrose, Jennifer Dundas Lowe, Joelle Carter, Jamie Harrold, James Villemaire, Josh Pais, Sharon Scruggs, Joshua Harto, Anthony Michael Ruivivar

Director: Robert J. Siegel

Director: Robert J. Siegel
Screenwriter: Lisa Bazadona, Robert J. Siegel, Grace Woodard
Producer: Linda Moran, Robert J. Siegel
Composer: Mark Wike
Studio: Oceanside Pictures

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Swimming

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

No review available.

comment Comment
08/05/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

The anti-touristy mood of Siegel's film sets it apart from other less thoughtful teen beach flicks.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
11/02/03
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
03/10/03
Kimberly Jones
Kimberly Jones
Austin Chronicle

[Siegal] proves that you don't have to be a just out of film school Gen-X'er to make a resonant and entertaining movie about young adults.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Merle Bertrand
Merle Bertrand
Film Threat

Flawed, but worth seeing for Ambrose's performance.

Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | comment Comment
10/21/02
Jean Lowerison
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan

Unlike most teen flicks, Swimming takes its time to tell its story, casts mostly little-known performers in key roles, and introduces some intriguing ambiguity.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
10/12/02
Eric Monder
Eric Monder
Film Journal International

Though the material sounds complex and potentially sleep-inducing, director Robert J. Siegel paints his portrait of boredom and discontent with deft strokes.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
09/25/02
Pete Croatto
Pete Croatto
Filmcritic.com

A gracefully acted, unsentimental, quite likable little coming-of-age movie.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
09/20/02
John Hartl
John Hartl
Seattle Times

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Journal News (Westchester, NY) | comment Comment
09/19/02
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Journal News (Westchester, NY)

The film is an earnest try at beachcombing verismo, but it would be even more indistinct than it is were it not for the striking, quietly vulnerable personality of Ms. Ambrose.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
09/18/02
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

The town has kind of an authentic feel, but each one of these people stand out and everybody else is in the background and it just seems manufactured to me and artificial.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
09/16/02
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper

Swimming isn't a major film. Nor does it try to be. But what, in the end, is a major film? If it's one that accomplishes what it sets out to do, then we ought to correct ourselves.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
09/13/02
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday

An unusually dry-eyed, even analytical approach to material that is generally played for maximum moisture.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
09/13/02
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A refreshingly authentic coming-of-age tale.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
09/13/02
Megan Turner
Megan Turner
New York Post

Swimming is above all about a young woman's face, and by casting an actress whose face projects that woman's doubts and yearnings, it succeeds.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
09/13/02
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A well-crafted film that is all the more remarkable because it achieves its emotional power and moments of revelation with restraint and a delicate ambiguity.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
09/12/02
Loren King
Loren King
Chicago Tribune

As relationships shift, director Robert J. Siegel allows the characters to inhabit their world without cleaving to a narrative arc.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
09/10/02
Laura Sinagra
Laura Sinagra
Village Voice

Offers absolutely nothing I hadn't already seen.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
08/23/02
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
San Francisco Examiner

Keenly observed and refreshingly natural, Swimming gets the details right, from its promenade of barely clad bodies in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to the adrenaline jolt of a sudden lunch rush at the diner.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
08/23/02
Carla Meyer
Carla Meyer
San Francisco Chronicle
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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