Learn To Swim: Jazz Romance Finds Abstract Truth Between the Notes
By Jennie Punter
Rating: B-plus
Music is the space between the notes, French composer Claude Debussy famously wrote, an idea echoed years later by jazz legend Miles Davis: “It’s not the notes you play; it’s the notes you don’t play.”
Something similar is also true of storytelling. Meaning, emotion, and the abstract truths of life are often found between the plot points, when one is thinking, remembering, and, of course, listening to (or playing) music.
This is one of many vibes filmmaker Thyrone Tommy gets just right in his debut feature Learn to Swim, a romantic drama set in the Toronto’s jazz scene, which screened in the Discovery program of TIFF 2021 and landed on its year-end Canada’s Top Ten list.
Thomas Antony Olajide as conflicted jazz player Dezi in Learn to Swim
Thomas Antony Olajide delivers an intense yet tender and nuanced performance as Dezi Williams, a saxophone player who has cut himself off from his band and from playing and has moved to a new apartment, where he is cleaning and repairing instruments to make money.
Dezi “rewinds” to the beginning of his relationship with his former lover Selma, a singer (a sparkling performance from Emma Ferreira), and finds himself frequently replaying memories of happier moments of her and of his band, which we see in flashback scenes that are seamlessly interwoven with his present, more solitary life.
As events of the past and present gradually become more fractious, Dezi grows more agitated and disoriented. Adding to his emotional pain is a troublesome abscessed tooth, which he is putting off fixing and is, instead, medicating with alcohol.
Local jazz heads will no doubt get a kick out of seeing music and post-gig hangs play out in Toronto venues like The Emmet Ray, and Adelaide Hall. (There’s a lot of smoking in bars and indoors in the film and also an absence of technology that suggests the story is set in the past.)
The real treat here is the fabulous original music, sometimes in the background, but more often performed. (The actors learned to play their instruments, and you’d have to concentrate hard to figure out when they’re playing along to the backing track.)
As producer Alona Metzer explained to me in a conversation before TIFF 2021, all the music had to be written in advance of the production—a risky move that ended up being a brilliant one. The filmmakers reached out to Chester Hansen and Leland Whitty, of the Grammy-winning jazz-hip-hop instrumental combo BadBadNotGood, who were interested and available since touring was postponed due to the pandemic. They ended up writing most of the original music, and there is also great soundtrack music throughout the film.
Learn To Swim surfaces at a time when venues are opening again, and music fans are once again stepping out to experience live music. The re-emergence of Dezi and his saxophone on the stage sounds a note of hope that things might just be getting better.
Learn to Swim opens in theatres on Friday, March 25. The film is directed by Thyrone Tommy, written by Marni Van Dyk and Tommy, and stars Thomas Antony Olajide and Emma Ferreira.