Against the Current poster & wallpaper

Elizabeth Reaser, Joseph Fiennes, Justin Kirk

Struggling with a tragic past, a man with an urgent calling enlists two friends to help him swim the length of the Hudson River.

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60% liked it

1,414 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 35 min.

Directed by: Peter Callahan

Release Date: January 18, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (24)

  • macdolj
    May 30, 2009
    macdolj
    you are best looking...
  • sabrina2011
    April 14, 2009
    sabrina2011
    haha, nice film. :]]
  • muru93spee
    April 14, 2009
    muru93spee
    go on swimming guyy@@@
  • JasonDennis91786
    April 13, 2009
    JasonDennis91786
    another case of a writer being WAY too literal with the whole river journey as a metaphor for life thing and coming up with any random ridiculous plotline to call himself a theorist by.
  • jr139
    February 6, 2009
    jr139
    Everyone deals with grief differently. Responses are relative to the people who experience it: some people push through it, some people repress it, some people let it consume them, and some people, well, some people honor it. We may all have different views on which way is righ...( read more)t and which ways are wrong and that's all well and good when it comes to how we respond when the grief hits us. But, what happens when we're just spectators? How are we supposed to respond when grief hits those closest to us and we find ourselves at odds with those we care about? Suddenly, that which we held to be true and immovable is shaken by the love and dedication we feel towards a friend who is in turn immovable. This is the dilemma that arises in Peter Callahan's Against the Current, the writer/director's second-time feature, which asks us how far our loyalties to our friends will go. Though the film deals with some dark subject matter, Callahan ensures that it never gets bogged down in melancholy or insensitivity. Instead, his luscious cinematography and the gallows humor enacted through leads Joseph Fiennes and Justin Kirk add an unexpected light-heartedness and tranquility to a film that would otherwise be irrevocably bleak and morally black and white.

    Paul Thompson (Fiennes) has been struggling with the death of his wife and child for years, overcome with a grief he can't shake. Apathetic about his job and unable to feel anything but numb in relationships, he decides it's time to come to terms with his loss the only way he knows how. To honor and remember the five year anniversary of his wife's death, he decides to swim the length of the Hudson River, all 315 miles of it from Troy, New York to the New York Harbor, planning to reach his goal exactly five years to the day. To accomplish this task he enlists the help of his best friend Jeff Kane (Kirk), a bartender who'll take any excuse to get away from his crumbling marriage, and new friend Liz Clarke (Elizabeth Reaser), a school teacher looking to waste some time before the new semester starts. Purchasing a rickety boat, the three coast down the Hudson one day at a time, sleeping on the river's banks and trying to avoid the rain. Everything is going swimmingly, literally and figuratively, until Jeff suddenly remembers why Paul has chosen now to honor the death of his wife and Liz gradually begins to realize her feelings for him. As the journey commences, Jeff and Liz both attempt to re-convince Paul of the decision he has made, struggling to reconcile the idea that to love Paul is to both try and protect him and also to respect his decisions and appreciate his situation.

    What kind of sacrifices would friends make for other friends? Would or should friends forego their own moral convictions to respect the wishes of someone they love so much? These are the questions that Against the Current poses and allows the audience to answer. Though the film presents one possible answer, Callahan avoids pretentious preachiness in favor of one viewpoint or another and this allows healthy discussion to flourish. Part of what makes the exploration of grief and tragedy a worthwhile one is the gallows humor within the script. Though the tone of the film is markedly mellow and often morose, the comedy neither detracts from nor interupts the solemn meditation. Instead, it helps create a healthy rapport between the main characters, played to a dry perfection by both Fiennes and Kirk. Beneath the sarcastic banter and straight-faced quips is a rational dialogue about life and death that asks for nothing but an open and understanding ear from all listeners.

    Tying the film and the cast together is the character that goes mostly unnamed, but cannot be ignored: the Hudson River. As diverse in landscape, scope, and aesthetics as the country in which it flows, the views from the river are breath-takingly beautiful. Whether at golden hour, brightest noon, or rainy morning, the cinematography of Sean Kirby is tranquil like the water and is celebratory of the beauty of the life that surrounds the characters, whether that beauty opens the eyes of those who have never noticed it before or acts as a welcome end note for those who have forgotten it.

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