Jack and I really liked this biopic about the driven, narcissistic Diana Nyad attempting to swim from Havana to Key West in open water. Beginning in 2009 on Nyad's 60th birthday, the movie mixes new scripted material with archival footage, including in the credits. Don't leave the room! It was even more thrilling because we couldn't remember if she made it or not (see below*) but don't worry if you do remember––it'll still be good.
It is co-directed by the married couple Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi from the screenplay by Julia Cox, based on Nyad's 2015 memoir Find a Way. I would have liked Bonnie's back story to be a tiny bit more fleshed out but if you play close attention, you'll get some of it.
Alexandre Desplat's score can be streamed on Apple Music and elsewhere. And, because we enjoyed the vocals, I made a playlist on Spotify with eight of the ten popular songs from the movie.
Director of photography Claudio Miranda brings some glorious pictures. And kudos to the makeup department head Felicity Bowring for Benin's chapped, swollen face.
Bening was last blogged for Jerry & Marge Go Large, Foster for acting in Elysium, Ifans for Snowden, Chin and Vasarhelyi for Free Solo, and Desplat for Asteroid City. Miranda was Oscar nominated for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and won for Life of Pi, and nominated by his peers in the American Society of Cinematographers for both plus Top Gun: Maverick. Bowring's illustrious career includes Greedy (1994), Along Came Polly (2004), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), The Social Network, The Front Runner, and the aforementioned Top Gun: Maverick.
*In case you do not know how her swim ended, I promise not to spoil it for you. Wikipedia does, giving quite a bit of history, and I loved this long New York Times profile of Bening, which also throws in the result of the Cuba-Florida swim.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are happily splashing with averages of 85 and 82%, respectively. We watched it November 14 on Netflix.
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