"Who is a person that looks like a plane you want to jump onto, risks tossed to the wind? Who makes you feel alive? Who, when you're with them, you like yourself?" Laurie, there are no more essential questions than these, posed here. Answer these and no more questions are necessary. But I loved every word of your movie review. I'm a long distance swimmer, and much older than the characters in Nyad. Thank you for a great gift. Margaret Mandell
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻What a glorious thing to wake up to!! I have seen this movie twice already, and you made me love it even more!! I know the screenwriter — she was one of the assistants season five when I worked on the show Parenthood — and I recently got to interview her for a Writers Guild Q&A. The directors are a husband and wife team who made the brilliant documentary Free Solo — and from what I can tell, writer, directors, and actors were a joyful team themselves as they made this movie!
Nyad - I was preparing for my second solo attempt to cross the Sea of Cortez, a 100+ mile swim, when she completed her swim from Cuba. We don't know each other, never spoke. One morning, I checked my email, and she had sent me money to help cover the costs. Diana's Swim is a work of art open to many interpretations. They captured something eerily familiar, so well done.
My wife and I saw the movie Nyad at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and Bonnie came to the stage following the movie to answer some questions. It felt like Jody Foster had come off the screen, and the movie had extended into reality. Remarkable performance.
Thank you, Laurie. I discovered you today when your post mysteriously arrived in my inbox, and after reading some posts, I felt I found an old friend. - "The time we are living in is sad and terrifying. Here is some cake." - I can't wait to tell my wife we are not alone.
Like I said--but merely suggested--a beautiful and complex piece about living and loving and change and purpose between two women. Thank you. My book’s about the same things among men. It’s possible. 🤷🏼♂️ If I live long enough and manage my grief well enough, my next book will be about the same possibilities between a man and a woman. It’s a niche I know but I appreciate the suggestion.
This piece really resonates as just yesterday, a friend sent me a picture of a recent People magazine with Patrick Dempsey on it who "finally" became the sexiest man alive at age 57. My immediate thought was, will there ever be gender justice? A 57-year-old woman without makeup and a kicking bod (and maybe even with both) would be hard pressed to be recognized as the sexiest woman alive. While I wasn't as taken with the movie, I loved watching strong older women show the world who's boss.
“I don’t have a brief for anyone looking a way that relaxes the anxieties of other people.”
A thousand times this. When I find myself concerned about looking younger, hipper, less objectionable to some Gen Z colleagues I realize it’s not for me. I’m pretty fine with the way my over-60 self looks. It’s to ease THEIR anxieties. Your writing just cracks me open, Laurie. (And now I must go watch that film.)
Nyad has been on my to-watch list even though I don't watch many movies, and now I've moved it up to the top, thanks to your review. I'm not a swimmer, but I am in my 60s and still doing what I've always done: writing, re-storying unloved houses, going for trail rides into the wilderness, loving this earth and we who share the planet. It's not swimming from the Florida Keys to Cuba, but after being widowed at age 55, I determinedly created the solo life that fills my heart and spirit, and allows me to do some small good in my corner of the world, and I'm happy with myself. (And I'm now 67, still dreaming and doing.) Thank you for the thoughts about Nyad and life!
Laurie, what you wrote resonated with me, as a woman who went back to grad school at 54 with a few 20 somethings in there, who made me feel like they needed me to "sit down and shut up" . It was such a strange feeling ( an invisibility cloak they hand you when you turn 50, who knew) but I made it through and found my voice. I have been examining my life long friendship recently, writing about them, (working on a play) these on going conversations with friends, one in particular starting to feel as though I'm sticking a square peg into a round hole. Those good feelings aren't there. The history of a 35 year + relationship and knowing when it is time to swim off and never look back or keep yelling in your friend's face, "We've got this! We've earned it! We're friends for life! We're family." It's a complex thing to navigate.
Thank you Laurie. I watched this movie the other night and really liked it, but I couldn't put my finger on something that felt unsettled. You did that here. I didn't necessarily like her, our heroine, the self-centered, the lack of gratitude. But it didn't matter. I wanted to her to finish that swim. I felt pulled by her doggedness, her sheer will, her self-determination. Dammit. I will do it, f- the rest of you, the world. There is power in a woman staying in the lane of her choosing, despite the world. And the magnitude of the physical and mental feat is unparalleled. Thank you for this thoughtful analysis. It resonated.
Just watched it with my wife and four of our open water swimming friends, women aged 60-75. We all enjoyed it tremendously. Your review was spot on. These are real, complicated, three dimensional women, just like our friends. . The actors played them perfectly.
From the first shot I just gorged myself on the honest depiction of real women's faces and bodies. That shouldn't be radical, but it is. Even though Foster and Bening are both Hollywood actors, they're both kinda normal-looking (no surgery? no makeup?)- they pass for normal humans well. It made me think of when I was a little kid in the changing rooms at the pool, getting to see the whole spectrum of naked female bodies.
I also massively loved the lesbian-best-friends partnership. Again, this shouldn't be radical. Bechdel test- passed, cum laude!
Some critics review the film. Laurie makes the film a portal into a larger, more urgent discussion about friendship, aspiration and monstres sacrés. I must see the film. But that's almost beside the point.
"Who is a person that looks like a plane you want to jump onto, risks tossed to the wind? Who makes you feel alive? Who, when you're with them, you like yourself?" Laurie, there are no more essential questions than these, posed here. Answer these and no more questions are necessary. But I loved every word of your movie review. I'm a long distance swimmer, and much older than the characters in Nyad. Thank you for a great gift. Margaret Mandell
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻What a glorious thing to wake up to!! I have seen this movie twice already, and you made me love it even more!! I know the screenwriter — she was one of the assistants season five when I worked on the show Parenthood — and I recently got to interview her for a Writers Guild Q&A. The directors are a husband and wife team who made the brilliant documentary Free Solo — and from what I can tell, writer, directors, and actors were a joyful team themselves as they made this movie!
Nyad - I was preparing for my second solo attempt to cross the Sea of Cortez, a 100+ mile swim, when she completed her swim from Cuba. We don't know each other, never spoke. One morning, I checked my email, and she had sent me money to help cover the costs. Diana's Swim is a work of art open to many interpretations. They captured something eerily familiar, so well done.
My wife and I saw the movie Nyad at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and Bonnie came to the stage following the movie to answer some questions. It felt like Jody Foster had come off the screen, and the movie had extended into reality. Remarkable performance.
Thank you, Laurie. I discovered you today when your post mysteriously arrived in my inbox, and after reading some posts, I felt I found an old friend. - "The time we are living in is sad and terrifying. Here is some cake." - I can't wait to tell my wife we are not alone.
Like I said--but merely suggested--a beautiful and complex piece about living and loving and change and purpose between two women. Thank you. My book’s about the same things among men. It’s possible. 🤷🏼♂️ If I live long enough and manage my grief well enough, my next book will be about the same possibilities between a man and a woman. It’s a niche I know but I appreciate the suggestion.
"Ambivalence that can’t be resolved is also a form of beauty," indeed.
This piece really resonates as just yesterday, a friend sent me a picture of a recent People magazine with Patrick Dempsey on it who "finally" became the sexiest man alive at age 57. My immediate thought was, will there ever be gender justice? A 57-year-old woman without makeup and a kicking bod (and maybe even with both) would be hard pressed to be recognized as the sexiest woman alive. While I wasn't as taken with the movie, I loved watching strong older women show the world who's boss.
“I don’t have a brief for anyone looking a way that relaxes the anxieties of other people.”
A thousand times this. When I find myself concerned about looking younger, hipper, less objectionable to some Gen Z colleagues I realize it’s not for me. I’m pretty fine with the way my over-60 self looks. It’s to ease THEIR anxieties. Your writing just cracks me open, Laurie. (And now I must go watch that film.)
Bravo on writing another Stack where you hit it out of park!
What people do for fame, love and acceptance.
Oh vey!
The Human Complex Condition.🙃🧐
The power and force of your writing is so moving. You explained this film beautifully. I didn’t cry, but I was mesmerized by their faces.
Nyad has been on my to-watch list even though I don't watch many movies, and now I've moved it up to the top, thanks to your review. I'm not a swimmer, but I am in my 60s and still doing what I've always done: writing, re-storying unloved houses, going for trail rides into the wilderness, loving this earth and we who share the planet. It's not swimming from the Florida Keys to Cuba, but after being widowed at age 55, I determinedly created the solo life that fills my heart and spirit, and allows me to do some small good in my corner of the world, and I'm happy with myself. (And I'm now 67, still dreaming and doing.) Thank you for the thoughts about Nyad and life!
Laurie, what you wrote resonated with me, as a woman who went back to grad school at 54 with a few 20 somethings in there, who made me feel like they needed me to "sit down and shut up" . It was such a strange feeling ( an invisibility cloak they hand you when you turn 50, who knew) but I made it through and found my voice. I have been examining my life long friendship recently, writing about them, (working on a play) these on going conversations with friends, one in particular starting to feel as though I'm sticking a square peg into a round hole. Those good feelings aren't there. The history of a 35 year + relationship and knowing when it is time to swim off and never look back or keep yelling in your friend's face, "We've got this! We've earned it! We're friends for life! We're family." It's a complex thing to navigate.
Thank you Laurie. I watched this movie the other night and really liked it, but I couldn't put my finger on something that felt unsettled. You did that here. I didn't necessarily like her, our heroine, the self-centered, the lack of gratitude. But it didn't matter. I wanted to her to finish that swim. I felt pulled by her doggedness, her sheer will, her self-determination. Dammit. I will do it, f- the rest of you, the world. There is power in a woman staying in the lane of her choosing, despite the world. And the magnitude of the physical and mental feat is unparalleled. Thank you for this thoughtful analysis. It resonated.
Just watched it with my wife and four of our open water swimming friends, women aged 60-75. We all enjoyed it tremendously. Your review was spot on. These are real, complicated, three dimensional women, just like our friends. . The actors played them perfectly.
From the first shot I just gorged myself on the honest depiction of real women's faces and bodies. That shouldn't be radical, but it is. Even though Foster and Bening are both Hollywood actors, they're both kinda normal-looking (no surgery? no makeup?)- they pass for normal humans well. It made me think of when I was a little kid in the changing rooms at the pool, getting to see the whole spectrum of naked female bodies.
I also massively loved the lesbian-best-friends partnership. Again, this shouldn't be radical. Bechdel test- passed, cum laude!
Some critics review the film. Laurie makes the film a portal into a larger, more urgent discussion about friendship, aspiration and monstres sacrés. I must see the film. But that's almost beside the point.
Great analysis, as per usual. From now on, I will read no other film critics. 😊