“Learn to Swim” – Or at least float [MOVIE REVIEW]

Thomas Antony Olajide as Dezi in "Learn to Swim." Photo courtesy of Array Releasing.

“Learn to Swim,” Tyrone Tommy’s debut feature, was a well-intentioned effort at setting an existential drama in the jazz world, an apt choice because nothing is more existential than jazz. Written with Marni Van Dyk, Tommy’s intention was to keep things ambiguous. He succeeded, perhaps too well. 

Dezi, a talented sax player, works his magic with a small group of musicians. They have achieved enough of a following that they are on the cusp of making a marginal living club hopping. Dezi’s life is complicated by the fact that his heart longs for Selma, their singer. She loves what she does but, compared to Dezi, she’s just not there. 

Dezi is introduced to us in a dentist’s chair. He has an abscessed tooth causing him no end of pain. It is through the prism of his distress that we see him, or at least I think that’s the intention. I say “I think” because I’m actually not sure what is going on throughout the film. Dezi plays, then he doesn’t. Dezi is dating Selma and then he isn’t. Dezi is being hit on by his older landlady, or is he? Selma is drawn toward him and then abandons him or does she? 

Emma Ferreira as Selma and Thomas Antony Olajide as Dezi in “Learn to Swim.” Photo courtesy of Array Releasing.

Against a backdrop of jazz, their non-romance plays out. And always there’s the non prosaic toothache. Part of the problem, or at least as far as I’m concerned, is that the jazz they play just isn’t very good. Primarily rooted in the “Cool” of the sixties, infused with Latin rhythms, it never connects either melodically or intellectually. If you’re going to do a movie set in the world of jazz, even if the musicians are on the margins, then you owe the audience some good music. The most interesting scene is when Dezi, trying to overcome the painful rejection of his suit, tries to help Selma improve her singing. Unbelievably, she, the least talented among all of them,has attracted the attention of a record company. (Read into that what you will.) She is, as Dezi points out as he’s trying to get her to connect to the melodic line, not very good. With his help, she gets better but not better enough (at least for me).

The color palette is as obscure as the meaning but at least it is evocative of jazz clubs. With the exception of Dezi and the horny landlady, no one really has a character that can be defined, and it follows that there is no character development. 

Thomas Antony Olajide, Dezi, does the best he can with an opaque situation. To his credit, he is very watchable and deserves better. This jury is still out on Emma Ferreira, Selma, who is beautiful but flat in this, her debut.

I was at least relieved when Dezi finally had that abscess treated. Maybe there is no greater meaning. Maybe life is just one giant toothache to be tranquilized.

Instead, I strongly recommend the Netflix series called “The Eddy,” highlighting a life lived for and in jazz with great music and terrific acting led by André Holland.

Streaming on Netflix beginning August 15.

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