The Swimmer
Director: Frank Perry and Sydney Pollack
Year Released: 1968
Rating: 3.5
Burt Lancaster decides to 'swim' home through all the neighbors' pools, taking him on a journey in which he meets ex-lovers, friends, new temptations, cruel enemies and his own demons. Readings will depend on your own interpretation of the events (John Cheever wrote the source story), but what cannot be argued is how effective this alternative approach to character development winds up being: you're shown a man you (at first) are led to believe is a bright and happy and then that facade he's built for himself (and you've accepted) is slowly torn away, revealing the truth behind what kind of an individual he really is (and unveiling the world of denial he's stuck inside of). Existential, conceptual, communist, nihilist, whatever: it's a pretty stunning cult film.
