Nyad (2023)

This is at core a pretty standard story of an uplifting sporting feat, a familiar tale of triumph over adversity, in this case man versus ocean, ocean almost always winning--but not every single time. The story is told by married documentarians, who earned an Academy Award for their jaw-dropping 2018 film “Free Solo,” so while it is a docudrama, the story is told in a recognizable documentary format. Nyad was a legendary long-distance swimmer and former ABC “Wide World of Sports” correspondent and the movie tells the tale of her quest at age 64 to swim from Cuba to Florida, a brutal stretch of 110 miles. When Nyad finally crossed successfully, with the help of a crew of coaches, kayakers, and a medic, it was her fifth attempt. We witness all the setbacks, all the ways in which the journey went frustratingly wrong before it went right. An unexpected encounter with a swarm of box jellyfish provides a harrowing scene of nighttime horror, the weather is a constant battle, the current along the route is relentlessly not on the swimmer's side, as examples. Warning, Nyad is not a nice person--she is egotistical, narcissisticly self-centered and self-important, perhaps qualities one needs to accomplish this feat, but she is not great girlfriend material. Despite all that, this is a very enjoyable movie with great to watch, Annette Benning as Nyad and Jodie Foster as her coach and friend do a phenomenal job acting, and this is a rightful Oscar contender. Streaming on Netflix.