Robert J. Siegel is a college professor who teaches
film courses and also occasionally makes a movie
of his own. You may have seen PARADES, his 1972
movie about the Vietnam War. (I vaguely remember
that it was controversial, but I know I didn't
see it -- Frosty and I stopped going to the movies
altogether during the 1970's. The entire German
New Wave passed us by; I knew about Herzog and
the boys only from reading reviews, which I continued
to do out of habit.). Anyway, Siegel once again
has emerged from the warrens of academia, this
time to give us a quietly truthful little coming-of-age
film called SWIMMING that's so modest it would
go unnoticed were it not for a tour de force performance
by Lauren Ambrose, who may well be the best young
actress in America.
In PSYCHO BEACH PARTY,
Ambrose dorks it up in dozens of incredibly tacky
swimsuits, doing a perfect high-camp comic imitation
of Haley Mills during Haley's perky teenage years,
but in SWIMMING, a serious realistic film, her
character Frankie is too shy to wear a swimsuit.
She hides inside a pair of coveralls as she wanders
around Myrtle Beach (where she lives and works)
observing the bacchanals of the college kids on
vacation and wishing she could be less awkward
and more grown-up -- more like her friends Nicola
and Joelle. By the end of the film Frankie has
come to a realization: she's not less mature than
they are, she's more mature and always has been,
and she no longer has any desire to emulate their
behavior. Usually in films such a realization
comes suddenly in a single glorious fake-ass epiphany,
but Siegel and Ambrose know better and have shown
Frankie's transformation into self-confidence
and independence happening gradually and building
on the incremental, accumulative effect of several
discoveries and insights. Ambrose is a master
of nuance and shading, and Frankie's transition
into adulthood happens so naturally and realistically
and convincingly that the viewer is scarcely aware
her personality has changed until he stops to
think about it.
After we emerged from
the cool, dark depths of the Mayan into the brilliant
dazzle of the afternoon July sun, Frosty said,
"Lauren Ambrose was good but the rest of
the characters were just caricatures." I
snapped back, "Maybe so, but maybe they just
seemed to be caricatures because she was so good."
A truly gifted actress can make the others around
her look like histrionic amateurs even when they're
doing what would normally be considered a good
job of acting. Lauren Ambrose is a truly gifted
actress. Kudos to Siegel for showcasing her talent.
I'll give her performance a 6 and the film as
a whole a 4.5.
Oops, I almost forgot!
Before I conclude, I have an important message
for Jennifer Badass Lowe. Dear Jennifer, I doubt
you'll ever read this, but if you do, don't believe
a word of what my evil wife said about the other
characters in SWIMMING being caricatures. Your
performance as Nicola is spot-on. You're cute
when you're angry, and I'd give a hundred bucks
just to run my fingers through that frosted buzzcut
of yours. Keep on piercing, grrrl!
My rating on the Watson
scale: 4.5 |
