Swan Song
Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris are reunited in an intelligent drama that examines our humanity in the near future.
A man divided: Mahershala Ali with Awkwafina
We’ve spent much of the year ahead of ourselves, cinematically speaking. But Benjamin Cleary's Swan Song comes closest to presenting a more plausible future than we have seen for a while. From the start, this world feels like a place that is familiar: a domain in which technology, like today, has only really transformed the smaller things in life. Even the cityscapes – the film was shot in Vancouver – feel rooted in the present. But then everything about Cleary’s first feature – which he directed from his own screenplay – is absolutely spot-on. This is a debut to applaud and to celebrate.
The first coup is the casting of Mahershala Ali in the lead, in what is essentially the actor’s first central film role. Some might argue that he had the lead in Green Book, but his second Oscar was still for best supporting actor. His first Academy Award, in the same category, was for Moonlight, in which he portrayed an Afro-Cuban drug dealer who befriends the young son of a crack addict, Paula, played by Naomie Harris. Here, Ali and Harris are reunited as husband-and-wife – and they really make us feel the love. Swan Song starts on board a train, where Cameron Turner (Ali) is on his own, sketching what looks like a scene for a comic book. He is familiar and comfortable with his surroundings, so when an automated refreshment dispenser slides to a halt by his seat and asks if he would like a “latte, oat milk, no sugar?”, he accepts the offer as a given. In the future, such machines already know our preferences. Crucially, though, Cameron also orders an ‘echo’ chocolate bar. Minutes later, a woman (Harris) speaking French on her bluetooth earpiece, sidles into the seat opposite him. As they avoid making eye contact, he starts sketching her and, without looking at him, she helps herself to a cube of his chocolate. Whereby hangs a tale…
As it turns out, this is a memory of Cameron’s – and memory is what the film is all about. The next scene sees Cameron arriving home (in an electric self-drive) and walking into a well-appointed, modern house. The latter may be modern, but it is every inch a home, with upturned sneakers in the hall, drawings and photos stuck to the fridge door and clothes slung on top of a laundry basket. It is late, and Cameron checks in on his sleeping son Cory and then his equally slumbering wife, Poppy (Naomie Harris). What Poppy doesn’t know is that Cameron has a condition that is deteriorating, but he thinks he may have found a solution…
The Dublin-born Benjamin Cleary, who won an Oscar for his 2015 short Stutterer, is a talent to watch. Every artistic decision, nuance and frame is the product of a filmmaker in command of his material. The casting of Mahershala Ali – as an artist – and Naomie Harris – as a music therapist – is smart, and the actors exude an alchemical shorthand that is enchanting to behold. And the future landscape is just as real – as lived-in as the home of Cameron and Poppy Turner. Yet the high-tech science available to Cameron is fundamental to the plot, as it explores what it means to be human, and perhaps even immortal. Cameron is bent on surviving, but what he has to weigh up is whether the sum of his DNA and memory is really the man he is. Swan Song is so good that one watches in fear that it is going to take a wrong turn. But it is way too intelligent to squander its winning hand. And every step of the way draws the viewer deeper into its incredibly complex human dilemma, tweaked by the humanitarian science of one Dr Jo Scott (Glenn Close). There’s a lovely supporting turn from Awkwafina, too, bringing a whole new level to an intimate drama that never strays from its intent.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Adam Beach, Nyasha Hatendi, Awkwafina, Glenn Close, Lee Shorten, Dax Rey, Aiden Adejuwon, Ace LeVere.
Dir Benjamin Cleary, Pro Mahershala Ali, Rebecca Bourke, Jonathan King, Jacob Perlin, Adam Shulman and Mimi Valdés, Screenplay Benjamin Cleary, Ph Masanobu Takayanagi, Pro Des Annie Beauchamp, Ed Nathan Nugent, Music Jay Wadley, Costumes Cynthia Ann Summers.
Anonymous Content/Know Wonder/Concordia Studios/Apple Studios-Apple+.
112 mins. USA. 2021. UK and US Rel: 17 December 2021. Cert. 15.
