SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The Song of Sway Lake directed by Ari Gold is a « don't miss » film. First, the scenery and the lake are stunning. The colors can be warm and bright. The lake is also wonderful because there is a lot of history going through the past and it looks like it's alive! If you turn the lights off you feel like being part of the movie and you totally forget where you really are. Good feeling! The actors, mainly Mary Peth Peil, Rory Culkin and Robert Sheehan are very talented. They are all different but also connected by a common point: a great nostalgia they all have but with different points of view. They are very interesting. The talent of these actors is great and allows us to love each character with his or her own personality.And then there's the music. It was written by Ethan Gold. It cradles you and goes perfectly with the film. I'd like to add that the film has already won an award at the Laughlin International Film Festival, another one for the Best Picture at Vancouver Golden Panda International Film Festival and a third one for winning the « Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature » at the Seneca Film Festival. Robert Sheehan has also won an award for the Best actor at Laughlin International Film Festival and Mary Beth Peil for the Best actress at Vancouver Golden Panda International Film Festival. It's well deserved because The Song of Sway Lake is superb! Congratulations to Ari Gold and to everybody who worked for the film!

The Song of Sway Lake is a magical film. It starts out as what seems to be an entertaining story about the unique friendship between Ollie (an excellent Rory Culkin) and Nikolai (equally great Robert Sheehan). But throughout the film it becomes much more than that. A deeply moving story about loss, love, aging, and living in the past. It makes you think about your own relationship to your past, presence and future in ways you never felt before.The cinematography is stunning and the acting superb. Ari Gold created a unique ensemble cast portraying characters that feel almost painfully real because they are so relatable. Rory Culkin, Robert Sheehan, Mary Beth Peil and the wonderful Elizabeth Pena excel in their roles and touch you so deeply it leaves an impact on you far after the movie has ended.Go see this film, it is one of a kind, a true gem!

Saw this film recently and found it mesmerizing! The scenery is spectacular , the acting by Rory Culkin, Robert Sheehan & Mary Beth Peil is superb and the music by Ethan Gold is very evocative of a bygone era! This film is currently on the festival circuit. See it if you can. Deserves a wide cinema release. Makes a change from all the action films. Beautifully observed work. The director Ari Gold deserves praise for the quality of the film. Simply stunning. No spoilers here but if you like to be entertained without loud music and like a genuinely heart- felt story you will love this! 10/10 Must See!

After the suicide of his father, a withdrawn young man travels to the family home on Sway Lake to retrieve a valuable record, only to encounter his shrewd grandmother with the same aim.As the many shots of Sway Lake itself reveal, this feature debut from director Ari Gold regards nature as a thing of beauty. Alas, what this film never manages to achieve is sharing a greater fondness for the characters and the drama before us.Bursts of Kerouacian hedonism and chauvinism from Ollie Sway (Rory Culkin) and his thrillseeking Russian friend Nikolai (Robert Sheehan) make way for a more melancholic film upon the arrival of Ollie's grandmother Charlie (Mary Beth Peil), who is looking to sell off the property. There is much focus on what once was, and a nostalgia that threatens to blinker the present for generations young and old.Charlie and Nikolai are the most interesting characters and have an engaging interplay as each is fascinated by a romanticised version of the other. Unfortunately, there is very little for them to actually go out and do together, putting this subplot in circles for much of the film.There is at least a little complexity to Charlie, who is at once cruel to those close to her and wistful for a lost husband and a lost era. A great hindrance to The Song of Sway Lake is its lead character Ollie being totally bland, and neither he nor his relationship with local girl Isadora (Isabelle McNally) is of much interest beyond bemusement that she would give such a weedy voyeur the time of day.At the core of the story is a hunt for a fabled record of much value, recorded and named after Sway Lake. Ollie is convinced his recently deceased father would've wanted him to have it as a work of art, while Charlie wants it purely for its monetary value. Charlie is the only surviving person to have specifically been left the Sway Lake record; how Ollie has any actual claim to it is one of the many things never fully delved into. Perhaps more interesting than this tired trope is Nikolai, who appropriates the Sway family history in substitute for his own lack of one.Unfortunately, there are only so many ways you can film someone looking through troves of vinyl, and the film meanders through them. This is a real shame as a soundtrack of Cole Porter and Fred Astaire show Gold's passion for music, which is also reflected in the attitudes of the Sway family, but a character's obsession with grading records is equally as unwieldy cinematic material.There seems to be an awareness that some of the film may struggle to capture an audience's attention, yet the nudity sprinkled throughout Sway Lake smacks of desperation. Particular focus is on Nikolai's body, and while the man is undoubtedly beautiful, it's hardly a substitute for an engaging plot line.Sway Lake is about time standing still and always moving, preserving the beauty of nature, the selfish joy of youth, the untouchable essence of love. There are many ideas present; perhaps too many for much of it to really resonate. Two affecting moments perk up the film in the final act, but ultimately cliché and melodrama sink the ship.