The Song Of Sway Lake: Review

30th January 2019

The Song of Sway Lake. I can certainly say that I’ve not seen a film like this is a while. The story, or what I could make of the concept is that a lake in eastern USA was once owned by a man, Sway. A music collector, he once held a record, what he referred to as a perfect record. Now that he is dead, and the lake turned into a tourist attraction, his grandson returns with his Russian friend to the old house on the lake to find said record. However, the arrival of other family members and an attractive young woman, and with all the activity on the lake, complicate their plan.

Off the bat I will say that The Song of Sway Lake is a visually gorgeous film. The cinematography and editing are without flaw. It all makes for a realistic and yet surreal story set on a beautiful lake. The wilderness and cabin sets are used to exceptional effect. You do feel like this would be a lovely place to visit for a nice holiday away from the stresses of life. There is clearly passion to this story from director and co-writer Ari Gold, so there is an energy to the film as well, keeping a relatively slow story going at an even pace. It was also nice to hear the voice of First Blood actor Brian Dennehy in a narrating role as the dead relative who owned the record to begin with.

Unfortunately The Song of Sway Lake commits one of the biggest film sins of any film, but in particular a drama – it could not hold my interest. I don’t mind slow, deliberate dramas, granted they don’t normal find themselves amongst my favourites, but this was tough to focus on. An issue here being that the film lacked focus. I don’t just mean through the plot, which was a little hard to follow. The hunt for the record is claimed to be the main plot of the story, but it feels like a subplot. Sadly, as does the return of the family, the grandmothers hidden agenda, the problems they have with the Russian friend stealing from them and the blossoming love story also feel like subplots. I wasn’t getting a grip on the stakes.

Yet stylistically it’s unfocused too. For the most part it feels fairly realistic, and yet there is a moment where our lead, Ollie, pretends to shoot a cupid arrow at a young woman and she gets an actual wound in her shoulder. These surreal moments unfortunately stood out as a distraction. The opening of the film is a couple swimming naked in the lake, graphic full-frontal nudity on screen and a sombre piano number playing as the scene plays out. It’s bizarre and somewhat striking, but that does not set up the tone of the film to follow.

Other than that I wasn’t fond of the somewhat repetitive score that played out throughout the film at random intervals. The acting wasn’t good either. Ollie comes across as a whiner at times and a complete blank slate at others. The Russian friend, Nicholai, is clearly someone who isn’t Russian putting on a very silly accent. Everyone else just plays it deadpanned and without enough passion to really hold our attentions. I don’t know if this is a performance or a directorial or a script issue.

I didn’t take to The Song of Sway Lake. It is not without merit and I would recommend it to those with a keen eye for visuals or with an interest in cinematography or editing. Otherwise, I’m not sure who I’d recommend this to. It’s to basic and slow for it to appeal to those who like their films surreal, and it’s a little to dream like to appeal to those looking for a romantic drama. It’s not a film I hate, not at all, but it’s also not one I will remember.

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