The Song of Sway Lake (2017)

Music collector Ollie Sway recruits his only friend, a rowdy Russian drifter, to help him steal a 78 record from his own family's estate.

Director:

Ari Gold

Writers:

Elizabeth Bull, Ari Gold

Stars:

Rory Culkin, Robert Sheehan, Isabelle McNally

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Rory Culkin	...	Ollie
Robert Sheehan	...	Nikolai
Isabelle McNally	...	Isadora
Mary Beth Peil	...	Charlie Sway
Elizabeth Peña	...	Marlena
Jack Falahee	...	Jimmy
Brian Dennehy	...	Hal Sway
Anna Shields	...	Heather
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gary Arzberger	...	Volunteer Fireman
John W. Bard	...	Biker Man
Jason Brill	...	Timmy Sway
Bob Foley	...	John Durant
Robert Forgett	...	Angry Man
John Grant	...	Tweed McKay
Kasey Kenyon	...	Ray

Storyline

Music collector Ollie Sway recruits his only friend, a rowdy Russian drifter, to help him steal a 78 record from his own family's estate.

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Genres:

Drama | Musical | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, graphic nudity and some sexual content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 September 2018 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Blue Mountain Lake, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Grack Films,Social Construct,Act Zero Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

Dear Darling
Written by Kenneth Morrison (as Ken Morrison)
Performed by Morrie Morrison Orchestra
Courtesy of Crucial Music

User Reviews

A Moving Piece About Legacy, Loss & Love

Ari Gold (Adventures of Power) is a risk-taking art-making movie director. In a departure from his earlier work, The Song of Sway Lake is interested in human relationships, in the power of nostalgia and loss, and quite a bit more. It's a film that puts emotion before all else; and Gold, who also co-wrote the screenplay, realizes how places and objects, and especially music from the past can transport you and, like the central character, Ollie (Rory Culkin) can even get too strong a hold. Ollie returns to the lake house where his family has lived for generations and where his own father committed suicide some years earlier. He hopes to find an old record album that is a prized possession, which contains secrets and clues form his family's past, but is buried among the tons of albums and other collectibles stored in the vast house.

Ari brings a friend along to keep him company, another lost soul named Nikolai, who seems to fit right into the property that sits on Sway Lake, like a hand in an old glove. It isn't until Ollie's grandmother Charlotte "Charlie" Sway shows up that things get very complicated.

Ollie's is stuck in the past and this clashes with his present. it prevents him from growing up and from moving on with his life. Even during his stay in the increasingly busier lake house, he forms a romance with a local young lady, but his ability to connect always seems hampered by the weight of the past.

The film itself almost feels like a gift from the past, it seems too overly earnest at moments and tapping into some vein that is dried out in these more cynical times. It's a movie that might have been made just around the time when Ronald Reagan came into office, the end of the innocence, as one singer song writer put it a while back. Youth is often difficult to leave behind as it is, let alone with you lose a parent and a way of life. When it's just snatched away from you. Some of this pain is palpable in Gold's movie. And you can hear it in the brilliant soundtrack composed by Ethan Gold, Ari's brother and collaborator.

Finally, it would be a shame not to mention the that the film contains the great actor Elizabeth Pena's final performance on film. It's a hard thing not to feel that loss as well as you watch this singularly unique film.