Swimming In A Sand Pool
Japan | Japanese, English subtitles
2024 | 86 Minutes
Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita
Cast: Sakiaki Hamao, Reia Nakayoshi, Mikuri Kiyota, Sumire Hanaoka
Now, I’m an absolute sucker for a good coming of age story. I am. And as such, I had high hopes for Swimming In A Pool Of Sand. Not to compare it to the greats but, I must have seen Stand By Me a thousand times by now, and I could still watch it that many more and still love everything about it. That film though, is an incredibly high bar to beat when it comes to coming of age film, I am aware.
This, I thought, was an odd concept for a film that I imagined could either be really good, or really dull. No grey area. And I was right about that part – it just didn’t go the way I was hoping it might.
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Under the relentless heat of a scorching July sun, four teenage girls find themselves with an unusual task: sweeping the sand-covered bottom of a swimming pool, remnants of a nearby baseball field. Based on a play written by a high-school student, Nakata Yumeka, and originally performed by the Tokushima City High School Drama Club, Swimming In A Sand Pool is a tender coming-of-age story that explores questions of love, ambition, and gender equality.
Each girl is there for a different reason. Miku (Reina Nakayoshi) and Kokoro (Saki Hamao) are being punished for missing gym class. The reluctant Chizuru (Mikuri Kiyota), the captain of the Swim Team, is there to refine her strokes (at the bottom of a sandy, empty pool). Finally, the compassionate Yui (Sumire Hanaoka) shows up and offers to help.
While beautifully shot and filled with gloriously pretty cinematography, Swimming In A Pool Of Sand isn’t as much a coming of age yarn as it is a day in the life of four moody teenagers who are being punished, or taught a lesson. Its more a reflection on the days that came before this one where the punishment is being played out, and the audience learns but bits and pieces of the dull story that, unlike a jigsaw puzzle, lacks any form of rhyme or reason.
There really isn’t anything to take away from Swimming In A Pool Of Sand other than the fact that the four main characters are angry or saddened by certain things. And none of the things ailing them are particularly bad to start with. It’s simple a lot to do about nothing.
Unfortunately, the excruciatingly slow pace of the film does it no favors, as the longer the film roles on, the more stretched the source material seems to get. With a runtime of just under an hour and a half, it feels as if the film makers were having a hard time forcing Swimming In A Pool Of Sand into feature film territory – and perhaps that is where the film ultimately goes wrong. This could have, and probably should have been a short film.
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Swimming In A Pool Of Sand is quite akin to an older Monty Python skit. Four girls are tasked with sweeping the sand out of an empty pool and… nothing happened. Then, the teacher who doled out this punishment to them showed up and… nothing happened. The schools bad boy shows up and… nothing happened. All of this because the other kids at the school like to play baseball and… nothing happened.
I went to see Swimming In A Pool Of Sand and… nothing happened.
