The Swimmer

What a disappointment. I don't particularly care for Israeli films for a number of reasons, some of which were present here in this film but I'll leave these aside as I've dealt with them elsewhere.

The film didn't mean anything at all. It flirted with the idea of gay swimmers or athletes but skittles away from it every time. Worse, it seemed to have been edited and cut badly as scenarios were presented that had no basis in what had come before. Why did the other guys turn against Erez all of a sudden with slurs about him wrongly being in the men's showers? How come the coach got so negative with him after being sure he could go all the way?

There was no back story to anyone, except Paloma and this threw up more questions than answers about her life and motivations.

The final scenes were not believable what with all the shouting and yelling. As for the competition, the way it was conceptualised was cringeworthy.

I watched it all, not for the slickness of the story but in the hope that something interesting or explanatory would happen. It didn't.

I went in expecting a thriller, and I came out of the cinema confused about what I've gotten. This movie can't really decide what it wants to be and feels a bit all over the place while also being somehow unimaginative.

Aside from it's unquestioned obessision with muscular, trained bodies, nothing really gets followed through. It wants to be a character study, but the characters sadly don't have a lot of depth to them. And that's not the actor's fault, they're doing the most with what they're given. But most of the characters are just set dressing and the main characters motivations feel obscure rather than mysterious, the homophobia is turned up to a hundred while at the same time never really being understandable in its exaggaration and it all leads nowhere.

Also, the music is terrible. Almost everything sounds like a cheap porn-Soundtrack but apparently wants to be taken serious.

There are far better gay movies out there, go watch them instead. This isn't really interesting, romantic, or thrilling (in any sense). It feels like, 'Free Fall' (2013 by Stephan Lacant), but bad. It lacks anything that made that movie a classic, from the characters to the visual style. This just looks like any mediocre gay movie that is satisfied with being gay as it's selling point, all the while it could have been great because the potential was there. The initial setting is new and interesting, the team of characters could be explored way further, even the rawness of the location has a lot of visual potential. But alas, the movie just always takes the easiest road, leading to mediocrity.

There are three interesting scenes, and the rest you've probably already seen very similarly elsewhere.

Sure, seeing a bunch of well-built athletes walk around in tiny speedo's (and occasionally without them) is absolutely pleasant (I admit, that's what attracted me in the first place), but it's by far not enough to make a decent movie. One also needs some sort of a solid story, one or two characters that you can relate to, and at least some adequate acting. This movie failed on all of the afore-mentioned accounts.

The story goes nowhere, it's evidently meant as some sort of coming-of-age thing, and to denounce homophobia, but apart from the occasional macho talk in the locker room and the questionable opinions of the coach, it all seems to be more in the head of main character Erez, who right from the start of his entrance in this training camp seems to do his utmost best to NOT fit in with the rest.

This already begins with him wearing a flaring orange speedo amid all other plain blue ones, but he also doesn't follow rules, smokes pot, behaves like an irritating and hormone-driven #me-too stalker towards his best buddy and eventually becomes more and more cranky and antagonizing in his behavior. He's not in the least sympathetic and his constant whining is not moving at all, only annoying. Oh, and suggesting that the apparently homophobic coach is a hidden homo himself is such a lame cliché and really way too easy!

As for the coming-of-age aspect: I have no idea what Erez in the end has learned about himself or about his place in the world; if there's meant to be any Werdegang or an emotional transition, then I didn't see it. So I give it 4 out of 10 points for the speedo's and the smooth bodies, but that's it.

Everything about this movie is done well, from the acting to the soundtrack, everything works to create a cohesive whole. That being said, I did not like a single minute of it. It draws you in, thinking that there might be something more going on between these swimmers, and in the end you are left wondering, "Why did I bother trying to figure it out?". You go in thinking it's gonna be about two boys that find love while training to be the sole competitor for the Israeli Olympic swim team, and instead you are given a story about a possibly psychologically damaged young man with identity issues and his experience in an all boys swim team. It's false advertising, is what it is.

As an Gay film, it doesn't work. As a sports film, it doesn't work. As a drama, comedy, romance? None of the above works. It only works as one of those movies where you hope things end up going well for the people and it doesn't. I don't know about any of you, but I just don't enjoy movies that have no one to root for. I didn't root for anyone in this movie, because no one was worth rooting for. That in itself ruined what could have been a decent film.

This movie was not good and I suggest you avoid it.

Nice intentions. Without being a bad film , it seems a collection of sketches. And each of them offers the impression to be abbandoned for other , then, the return to the first. It is a good film for details and suggestions, for fair image of life of a sportif , for few scenes and , not last, for acting.

But it offers not exactly a story . Only few frontal naked , a presumed romance in crumbs and a bizarre , but not wrong, dance scene.

Expecting to see it, I was not dessapointed . Only surprised for the apparently chaotic developement of film , with few sentimental moments, more in Russian style and with a story of comradery trying be more. The memory about it is centred around Omer Stricks , in happy and some bad manner.