NYAD

Diana Nyad, in her sixties, attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. She had tried the same distance in her thirties and failed; the film covers four attempts and the final one in 2013. What makes it interesting is that it does not try to make Nyad likeable. She is stubborn, self-absorbed, at times merciless toward her team, and does not know how to thank anyone. Her relationship with her closest friend and coach Bonnie Stoll is the real centre; their arguments are more interesting than the swimming. There are jellyfish, currents and hallucinations, and the scenes were shot in the water, making it a physically demanding production. Annette Bening plays Nyad and Jodie Foster plays Stoll; both were nominated for Oscars. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin directed, after Free Solo, and this is their first fiction feature. Before you watch, know this: the accuracy of some of Nyad's career claims has been argued over for years, and the film largely leaves that argument outside. That it was made by documentary filmmakers makes the choice more conspicuous.