Swimming to Cambodia
Screening on Film
Directed by Jonathan Demme.
With Spalding Gray, Sam Waterston, Ira Wheeler.
US, 1987, 35mm, color, 85 min.
With Spalding Gray, Sam Waterston, Ira Wheeler.
US, 1987, 35mm, color, 85 min.
Outfitted with a glass of water, a pointing stick, and two maps, Spalding Gray launches into an 85-minute rant on his experiences playing a minor role in Roland Joffé’s The Killing Fields, digressing into Bangkok strip clubs, the US military-industrial complex, and a host of other tangents along the way. Alternating among the comic, didactic, and confessional, Swimming to Cambodia brought new life to the monologue film, a form perfected by Gray. Jonathan Demme sparingly documents Gray’s mono-mental odyssey with only a few well-timed lighting and sound cues, otherwise preserving the real-time feel of the event.
Part of film series
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