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The Big Bad Swim: taking the plunge
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Cast of The Big Bad Swim
In the beginning of The Big Bad Swim, characters live in emotionally antiseptic environments. Their goals aren’t as complex as other movie characters: initially they want to learn to swim but, as the movie progresses, it is the difficulties of daily human interaction that they have trouble coping with.
Amy, played by Paget Brewster, a recently divorced high school teacher, takes a swim class in hope of making new friends. When we first meet her she is in class and is embarrassed in front of the other students by her ex-spouse, Paul, also a teacher in the same high school. Paul tells Amy that their present situation has made it awkward for many of their co-workers and that they must choose who will leave the school; he very obviously implies she is the one that has to go. Amy has no friends to call her own and whatever confidence she once had has been drained by the energy she put into pretending everything was okay.
At the swim class Amy befriends Jordan (Jess Weixler), who is easily half her age and has her own set of issues. Jordan appears to be the most well adjusted person in the swim class: she is not afraid of the water but never grew up in an environment close to a beach or a public pool. When asked about her job, Jordan mentions working as a blackjack dealer at Mohegan Sun, and then casually slips that she also dances at a local strip club. Jordan is not ashamed at what she does; these jobs do not define her, yet she purposely keeps the two worlds separate.
Noah, the swimming instructor, played by Jeff Branson, is defined by his job. We slowly find out he was a competitive swimmer training for the Olympics, but a cocky stunt left him a shell of his former athletic self. He teaches the class so that he has a reason to get out of the house, since his crippling depression basically renders him bed-ridden for most of the day.
As the movie progresses the characters take steps to form some sort of human connection with someone. Amy’s friendship with Jordan offers her a person she can talk to and confidence, which she uses when she meets a man at a blackjack table. At the start their relationship is merely physical but, as Amy gains more confidence, she gains the strength to not be crushed by the daily disappointments in life.
For Jordan, her job at the strip club has left her with a skewed idea of male-female relationships. Although she has obvious feelings for Noah, she feels the most comfortable when he accidentally runs into her at the strip club where she works. Jordan gives Noah a lap dance and relishes in the effect she has on him. Yet outside the club, she is scared to get emotionally hurt and avoids him, even in class.
Noah deals with his depression by getting a dog, a substitute for human interaction, but doesn’t even seem that interested in its company. It becomes another disappointment in his life but, at the same time, the various tasks he has to do to take care of the dog keep him from being consumed by his depression. The dog becomes more powerful than all the medication he takes and the possibility of having to give the dog away pushes him into an even more crippling depression.
The Big Bad Swim opened in 2006 and won various awards throughout the country yet gained no attention from the press. It was inexpensive to make but because the cast and crew were not yet tainted by mainstream Hollywood success, they could enjoy the process of creating the movie without letting ego and self-interest take control. This movie, in my opinion, can truly be defined as an independent film.
(Daniel Schechter, the screenwriter for The Big Bad Swim, recently wrote and directed a movie, Goodbye Baby, and after playing in several film festivals this year it has gained some very good reviews. The Big Bad Swim has been available on DVD since 2007.)
