The married filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi made their names with docs about extreme athletic accomplishments — see 2015’s Meru, 2018’s Free Solo (for which they won the best documentary feature Oscar) and 2021’s The Rescue — and have now made their narrative directorial debut, Nyad, about one woman’s decades-long pursuit of one of the greatest of all: becoming the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the benefit of a moving cage to keep away sharks, jellyfish and other dangerous sea creatures.
As with, say, Argo, Sully or, well, The Rescue, I suspect that most people will know, going in to Nyad, how it ends. Spoiler alert: Nyad realized her dream, some 35 years after she first tried to, at the age of 64. But I suspect that most will not know, going in, just how many personal and professional obstacles Nyad had to overcome in order to do so. Those are thrillingly brought to life by Chin and Vasarhelyi, truly the ideal filmmakers for this film, working from a solid script by Julia Cox.
At the end of the day, though, the most impressive aspect of Nyad is hands-down the work of the actress who plays the title character, Annette Bening, who has been very good in a lot of films over many years, but has never been better than she is in this film.
As Oscar-watchers know, a physically-grueling and vanity-free portrayal by a widely-admired veteran actress of a colorful person who really lived, is still alive and is delighted with the performance and film (Nyad told the Los Angeles Times this week that she was “blown away”) sounds just like the Academy’s cup of tea. And that’s before you factor into the equation the fact that Bening is overdue for an Oscar — she has been nominated but lost four times dating back 33 years, for 1990’s The Grifters, 1999’s American Beauty, 2004’s Being Julia and 2010’s The Kids Are All Right — and that recognition for her at this time in her career would sort of poetically echo Nyad’s own achievement. Indeed, should Bening win best actress on March 10, she would be 65 years old, making her the third-oldest recipient of that honor in its 96-year history, behind only Jessica Tandy, who was 80 when she won for 1989’s Driving Miss Daisy, and Katharine Hepburn, who was 74 when she won for 1981’s On Golden Pond.
(I say only half-jokingly that Bening should cross her fingers and toes that Jon Gunn‘s Ordinary Angels, which stars Hilary Swank and is expected to come out in 2024, not be moved up into 2023, because on both occasions when Bening probably came closest to winning an Oscar, for American Beauty and Being Julia, Swank upended her, for Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby, respectively.)
Also, excellent in — and likely to be nominated for — the key supporting role of Nyad’s best friend and coach, Bonnie Stoll, is Jodie Foster, a two-time Oscar winner who nails Stoll’s endearing eccentricity. (Nyad is not at Telluride because she is a member of SAG-AFTRA and was warned by the guild not to attend; Stoll, however, is in town, and I had the opportunity to visit with her yesterday, so I couldn’t help but chuckle when Foster came on the screen and I realized how well the actress had captured the subject.)
Should Nyad, which Netflix will release in select theaters on Oct. 20 before streaming it on Nov. 3, be regarded as an Oscar contender beyond the performances of its lead and supporting actresses? Perhaps. Beyond Netflix campaigning for it, it has to its advantage an explicitly-stated message that will surely resonate with many Academy members: You are never too old to follow your dreams.
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