Despite a few unsatisfying elements, Last Swim is an impressive debut from director and co-writer Sasha Nathwani. There’s a treacly quality to some of its stillness and pondering, but it manages to be an affecting and unique coming-of-age drama through Nathwani’s clear voice and vision, and the stellar lead performance of Deba Hekmat as Ziba, the Iranian-British teenager around whom the story revolves.
Ziba and her friends have just received their A Level (think SAT) results and are out celebrating. This is especially true for Ziba, whose grades are good enough to secure a spot at University College London to study astrophysics, a subject she’s deeply passionate about. However, Ziba is hiding the fact that she has recently received a potentially life-threatening medical diagnosis. This is revealed to the audience within the film’s first ten minutes, and so the tension behind what should be a joyous day out is based on whether or not Ziba will tell her friends about her condition.
Tara (Lydia Fleming), Shea (Solly McLeod), and Merf (Jay Lycurgo) are all varying degrees of lower achievers academically than Ziba, but by and large, they all have big plans for their futures. They do tease Ziba about being the “goody-two-shoes” of the group, but she fits right in nevertheless. Their banter feels incredibly authentic; they make the kind of jokes between friends where sometimes laughter isn’t even the point, but it’s about one-upping the bit. As they travel towards a park to see a meteor shower in the evening, they all witness different actions Ziba takes or accidents involving Ziba which make them concerned for her well-being.
No one is perhaps more concerned than Malcom (Denzel Baidoo), a young soccer player tagging along on the trip. Ziba’s friends know him, but she’s meeting him for the first time. They immediately make eyes at each other, and, as the somewhat sheltered Ziba is scared for her life and wants to try things she’s never tried, she pretends to need to use the bathroom in order to get Malcom alone when the crew stops at his apartment. However, she ends up learning new information about him that connects them in keeping personal secrets from the rest of the group.
Ziba and Malcom’s connection is the heart and soul of the movie, not only because the two actors have solid chemistry and what they’re going through is easy to sympathize with, but because the rest of the friend group is not all that well-developed. A lot of the time we spend with them is in dreamlike montages or the aforementioned comedy scenes, as Ziba looks on, apprehensive about the bomb she’s about to drop on them. Because the film stays in this wait-and-see mode for such a long time, its jolting climax feels unearned. It’s not the most egregious case of this problem I’ve ever seen, but it does mean the film tends to feel split between feeling like an authentic portrait of someone dealing with serious illness and feeling like an afterschool special.
I don’t want to sound too dismissive, because there is plenty to love about Last Swim. As I said, all the characters come off authentically, and the film mostly feels like it comes from an interesting and authoritative new voice. There’s more than enough here to look forward to whatever Sasha Nathwani makes next. I’m sure this won’t actually be the last swim, and I await the next one with great anticipation. | George Napper
