The Song of Sway Lake (2019)

To me, this movie is perfection.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Saw this film recently and found it mesmerizing! The scenery is spectacular , the acting by Rory Culkin, Robert Sheehan & Mary Beth Peil is superb and the music by Ethan Gold is very evocative of a bygone era! This film is currently on the festival circuit. See it if you can. Deserves a wide cinema release. Makes a change from all the action films. Beautifully observed work. The director Ari Gold deserves praise for the quality of the film. Simply stunning. No spoilers here but if you like to be entertained without loud music and like a genuinely heart- felt story you will love this! 10/10 Must See!

This is a good movie, with several well-defined and strongly portrayed characters. The first few minutes of the movie were the weakest, with some voice-over and some scenes from the past that would have been better presented as flashbacks later in the movie, once we are invested in the characters and the story.Recommended.Note. It was a pleasant surprise to see Elizabeth Pena in a new movie, three years after her untimely death. It was a small role, but one with heart, worthy of her.

In 1992, Ollie (Rory Culkin) and his Russian friend Nikolai (Robert Sheehan) travel to Sway Lake and stay at the Ollie's family state where they hope to find a long lost Vinyl record of great value. Ollie is somewhat of a loser while Nikolai is a live-wire. The search for the long lost record is complicated by the arrival of Ollie's grandmother Charlie (Mary Beth Peil) who has fallen on hard times and hopes to sell the state. But she too wants to find the record that was specifically made by a swing vocalist for her wedding day back in post-WW2 times.THE SONG OF SWAY LAKE is directed by Ari Gold as a coming of age story for our two young pals in search of a unique vinyl record. It's also about legacy and what it means to leave something behind to be remembered. Ollie's grandfather was a war hero, and the Lake is name after him (Sway being the family name) as well as that record being specifically recorder for his grandfather on his wedding day, this record was going to have value someday and it was left at the state for future generations of the Sway family to find. However, the value given to it will depend of those who find it; it can either be monetary or it can be deeper than that. Ollie believes the record is rightfully his, while his friend Nikolai may have his own plans for the record, as he seduces (perhaps honestly) Charlie, despite being thrice his senior. THE SONG OF SWAY LAKE is hard to label, and therefore its value is that it's an unconventional story that avoids a formula, it tells its story like a recount of someone's memories, an anecdote rather than a by the numbers script, which makes it and its characters feel real as we witness the story of two generations of the Sway family. It's a drama and a comedy, sometimes even a tragedy. In many ways this is closer to real life, where there are moments of levity followed by moments of anguish. Review by Enrrico Wood Lagonigro –Senior Curator Oaxaca FilmFest

After the suicide of his father, a withdrawn young man travels to the family home on Sway Lake to retrieve a valuable record, only to encounter his shrewd grandmother with the same aim.As the many shots of Sway Lake itself reveal, this feature debut from director Ari Gold regards nature as a thing of beauty. Alas, what this film never manages to achieve is sharing a greater fondness for the characters and the drama before us.Bursts of Kerouacian hedonism and chauvinism from Ollie Sway (Rory Culkin) and his thrillseeking Russian friend Nikolai (Robert Sheehan) make way for a more melancholic film upon the arrival of Ollie's grandmother Charlie (Mary Beth Peil), who is looking to sell off the property. There is much focus on what once was, and a nostalgia that threatens to blinker the present for generations young and old.Charlie and Nikolai are the most interesting characters and have an engaging interplay as each is fascinated by a romanticised version of the other. Unfortunately, there is very little for them to actually go out and do together, putting this subplot in circles for much of the film.There is at least a little complexity to Charlie, who is at once cruel to those close to her and wistful for a lost husband and a lost era. A great hindrance to The Song of Sway Lake is its lead character Ollie being totally bland, and neither he nor his relationship with local girl Isadora (Isabelle McNally) is of much interest beyond bemusement that she would give such a weedy voyeur the time of day.At the core of the story is a hunt for a fabled record of much value, recorded and named after Sway Lake. Ollie is convinced his recently deceased father would've wanted him to have it as a work of art, while Charlie wants it purely for its monetary value. Charlie is the only surviving person to have specifically been left the Sway Lake record; how Ollie has any actual claim to it is one of the many things never fully delved into. Perhaps more interesting than this tired trope is Nikolai, who appropriates the Sway family history in substitute for his own lack of one.Unfortunately, there are only so many ways you can film someone looking through troves of vinyl, and the film meanders through them. This is a real shame as a soundtrack of Cole Porter and Fred Astaire show Gold's passion for music, which is also reflected in the attitudes of the Sway family, but a character's obsession with grading records is equally as unwieldy cinematic material.There seems to be an awareness that some of the film may struggle to capture an audience's attention, yet the nudity sprinkled throughout Sway Lake smacks of desperation. Particular focus is on Nikolai's body, and while the man is undoubtedly beautiful, it's hardly a substitute for an engaging plot line.Sway Lake is about time standing still and always moving, preserving the beauty of nature, the selfish joy of youth, the untouchable essence of love. There are many ideas present; perhaps too many for much of it to really resonate. Two affecting moments perk up the film in the final act, but ultimately cliché and melodrama sink the ship.