Swimming to Cambodia
Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Jonathan Demme returns to STF after his memorable appearance last year with THE AGRONOMIST. This time he brings an older work that marked the breakthrough of monologist Spalding Gray.
Here’s a selection from Janet Maslin’s 1987 review in the New York Times: “SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA … is nothing it might be expected to be. Though Mr. Gray talks for an hour and a half and is the central figure in most of his stories, his egocentricity seems minimal. And he is never a bore. Nor is he inclined to speak with an ironic detachment, no matter how absurd or strange or painful the circumstances he describes. Mr. Gray, who has described himself at various times as a ‘poetic reporter’ and a ‘wandering poet-bachelor-mendicant,’ seems a true adventurer. A tireless enthusiast, he sounds as eager to find meaning in his experiences as he is to reinvent them, and he is a delightful storyteller in the bargain.”
Part of the Spring 2009 season of the Stranger Than Fiction documentary series.
NR, 85 MinutesUSA, 1987
Official Website: http://www.stfdocs.com/films/swimming_to_cambodia/
