Swims on screen: Still the Water (2014)

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Still the Water is a 2014 film directed by by Naomi Kawase, set on the Japanese island of Amami Ōshima. The sea features heavily as both setting and metaphor, for instance there is talk of a life as a wave starting out far out in the ocean and picking up power before crashing to a conclusion on the coast.

There are two key underwater swimming scenes in the film. Earlier on we see Kyoko (played by Junko Abe) taking a long sub aquatic dip in her school uniform. Towards the end of the film she returns underwater for a naked swim with her boyfriend, shortly after we hear an elderly relative bemoan 'I can't swim anymore', passing on the hope for life to these young lovers. The closing image of the film (above) is of the two swimmers shot from below with the sun above them.


 

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