NYAD
NetflixBreaking out in the world of documentary filmmaking with 2015's Meru, 2018's Free Solo, and 2020's The Rescue, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin find their first effort in narrative filmmaking as a duo with NYAD. Telling the inspiring true story of Diana Nyad, played in the film by Annette Bening, who sets off to accomplish her life-long dream of swimming 110 miles from Cuba to Florida at the age of 60, NYAD looks to both celebrate Nyad's efforts while also looking at the inner drama between her and her best friend, Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster). While effective on a basic level, NYAD ultimately fails to come together and embrace a deeper emotional purpose.
At its heart, NYAD is a salute to Nyad and her crew. Clearly captivated by her story of defying the odds and not letting any challenge get in one's way, Vasarhelyi and Chin use their skills of crafting a narrative through documentary filmmaking to build a compelling and strong narrative that resembles the basic backbone of a sports drama. Nyad is introduced using real-life footage highlighting the accomplishments she had in her youth with the one mountain she failed to climb being the Cuba swim. The film then jumps almost 40 years when Nyad gets a final fire in her to accomplish this goal. Obviously, Nyad faces incredible challenges as she tries to pull off the impossible. This is where Vasarhelyi and Chin shine the brightest as they know how to highlight these efforts and build a narrative that, while simple, is still effective.
The narrative struggles of NYAD come in when the film has to push past this basic identity. Vasarhelyi and Chin's best projects have been born from intriguing subjects opening themselves up and revealing fascinating dimensions and concepts. In their documentary careers, this has proved to be a weakness for the duo with projects like Return to Space and Wild Life proving their inability to push and create this compelling angle if not organically presented by the subject. In a switch to narrative filmmaking, this becomes an even more necessary requirement and Vasarhelyi and Chin again struggle. While there are teases to interesting depths such as Nyad's past with sexual assault and the conflict that arises as Nyad pushes her team to their limits as she only focuses on her personal sphere of emotion and ambition, the film fails to find a purpose or true place for these worthy conversations and continually reverts back to the basic core identity of the project.
This is especially frustrating as the talent in front of the camera was clearly ready to deliver. Annette Bening is fantastic in the leading role capturing a unique crossroads of respectable ambition alongside a true venom at times that paints the foundation for a layered and worthy character study. Next to her, Jodie Foster gives a wonderful portrayal of passion and concern as she has to balance being there for Nyad and being reasonable about what she can put herself through in the name of friendship. These two have great chemistry and many of the film's best moments are when they share the screen together and can bounce back and forth.
The other main flaw of the feature is simply how goofy much of the execution is. Filled with some really poor shots, awkward editing, and shockingly bad visual effects, it isn't uncommon for NYAD to undercut its own emotional moments. What should be grand moments of climax will often feel overly comedic or silly as an unexpected consequence of the film's creative decisions. This is yet another example of problems created by a lack of vision and ability behind the camera.
While there are positives to be had within NYAD, the film is overall a disappointment. Largely due to the talents behind the camera, what could have been a layered and poignant true story becomes an overly simplified and generic feature that fails to have a true bite or leave a lasting impression. While both Bening and Foster are fantastic, the film around them is a mixed bag with the overall results being lackluster.
