REVIEW: Nyad [2023]

Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 121 minutes
Release Date: October 20th, 2023 (USA)
Studio: Netflix
Director(s): Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Writer(s): Julia Cox / Diana Nyad (book Find a Way)

Just because we are on a one way street hurtling to death doesn’t mean we have to succumb to mediocrity.

I’m not sure there could be a more perfect project for Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi to pivot from documentary to fiction filmmakers than Nyad. Adapted by Julia Cox from Diana Nyad’s book Find a Way, the story has everything we’ve come to know of the duo’s work on Meru, Free Solo, and The Rescue. A captivating (and perhaps a bit polarizing) subject engaged in a death-defying feat. A “man vs. nature” conceit that’s less about conquering and more about living. And an inspirational backbone to balance suspense and heroics for an entertaining ride into the unknown.

There’s also the honest reality that things don’t always go your way. Maybe you’ll need a few attempts to climb that mountain or thirty-five years to swim that gulf. The main message is thus less about the success and more about the doing: Never give up. Because actions have only “never been done before” until someone finally does them. Just because Nyad’s dream to free swim from Cuba to Florida didn’t come to fruition at twenty-eight-years-old and that she stopped swimming for thirty years afterwards has no bearing on her drive to pick it right back up when the itch to go again arrives at age sixty.

What’s great about the film too, besides the true story itself and the teamwork and logistics necessary to try and pull this swim off, is that it’s a “warts and all” account. Diana Nyad (Annette Bening) is by all appearances on-screen a difficult person to be around. Justified or not, her ego gets her in a lot of trouble both by patronizing her friends and frustrating strangers. That stuff could have been sanitized. They could have made this on-screen version of Nyad just as strong and fiery as she is without focusing on just how much she proved her own worst enemy when it came to crossing the finish line. But that’s exactly the point.

She never would have without best friend and coach Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster) knowing which buttons to press. Nor without the late John Bartlett (Rhys Ifans) as navigator through insane currents threatening to take her off-course. Add cool new technology to keep sharks away and protect her body from jelly fish stings and it’s wild to think that all these collaborators donated their time since most sponsors wanted nothing to do with the potential notoriety of bankrolling a legend’s death. Cox’s ability to give these characters three dimensions and purpose without having to also steal focus from the star is an impressive juggling act.

And Chin and Vasarhelyi’s decision to inject a bit of documentary into the mix by constantly cutting to archival footage of the real Nyad’s swims and publicity tours lends a wonderful authenticity to the whole. I don’t know why so many filmmakers these days use computers to project the actor’s face onto the real person in such ancillary materials, but audiences aren’t so far gone that they cannot make the connection otherwise. Add a great soundtrack and awards-worthy turns from Bening and Foster and you get a feel-good crowd-pleaser that hits all the right notes to educate, inspire, and entertain.