HIFF 2023 Opening Night Film 'Nyad' Makes Big Splash

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and her husband Jimmy Chin have a gold-medal hit in Nyad.

On Thursday, October 5, the packed opening night feature at the 31st Hamptons International Film Festival proved the film about Olympic swimmer Diana Nyad to be a stroke of genius. It played very well in the room where the audience included luminaries like Julianne Moore, our own Vicki Schneps and Stuart Suna. On the red carpet, Vasarhelyi said the shift from documentaries to their first narrative film was natural. “I think it reminds us of what’s most human. We live in a really digital age,” she told me. “We’re talking about AI. We’re on our screens all the time, but there’s something that really spotlights what is uniquely a human trait, which is believing or having audacious dreams.”

This audacious dream is that of 64-year-old Nyad, played with a gut-wrenching believability by Annette Bening, who wants to swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida. A journey that eluded her in her Olympic youth. She is coached by longtime friend Bonnie Stoll, played pitch perfectly by Jodie Foster. The real Stoll surprised the audience Thursday night in a post-screening Q&A.

“You have to put in the work, the horrible work,” Vasarhelyi said. For Bening, that meant a year of real training. And a lot of swimming. As the film points out, it was a foreboding 250,000 strokes to make the 110-mile, 40-hour journey. Oh yeah, and then there were the jellyfish and sharks. All without a cage. Bening plays the role like a tenacious bulldog. Unable, after four attempts, to hit dry land in the end. But, of course, there’s a fifth attempt. I defy any crowd seeing this in a theater, where it should be seen (sorry Netflix) not to applaud loudly at the end the way Thursday’s audience did.

“It’s astonishing,” Vasarhelyi continued. “You don’t believe it can happen until her sheer will and preparation and work make it happen. And I think that’s what Jimmy and I are attracted to. And it’s what Jimmy does as a professional athlete as well.” He’s a climber. If you don’t believe me, rent Meru or the Oscar-winning Free Solo. This husband-and-wife team specializes in stories of courage, which is obviously why Hollywood came calling this time. They love it. Thrive on it. “It’s at our extremes that our true character comes through,” she added.

Do they direct an Annette Bening or a Jodie Foster in the same way they direct a documentary subject? Vasarhelyi is quick to point out they don’t “direct” documentary subjects and adds, “I would never tell Jodie Foster or Annette Bening what to do. But they are the difference between fiction and nonfiction. The emotional story, the instincts, the craftmanship are very similar. You just have a lot more resources in fiction.”

And Nyad herself? Has she seen the film? And were Vasarhelyi and her husband in the room? “Sadly no,” Vasarhelyi said. Timetables and schedules have prevented that so far. But yes, she has seen it. “It’s weird when a participant sees themselves. It’s like a home movie or a high school yearbook. Diana let go of the creative process, and she let us do our work. And when she saw the film, she felt respected.”

Nyad is to be respected, too. Especially during the upcoming awards season. Where it should do, sorry, swimmingly.

For the full list of HIFF 2023 films screening through Thursday, October 12, visit hamptonsfilmfest.org.

Bill McCuddy is a frequent Dan’s contributor. He is a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, cohosts a movie podcast with Neil Rosen and Bill Bregoli called “Sitting Around Talking Movies” and is a regular on the PBS/All Arts show Talking Pictures, also with Rosen. He also reports on this festival for the industry website goldderby.com. On October 13, he will be very tired.