Main Cast: Spalding Gray, Sam Waterston, Ira Wheeler
Release Year: 1987
Country: US
Run Time: 87 minutes
Plot
By rights, an 87-minute filmed monologue should be as stimulating as watching paint dry. Ah, but when the monologist is the brilliant Spalding Gray, then the audience is in for a cerebral feast. Based on his one-man Broadway presentation, Swimming to Cambodia is a mesmerizing account of Gray's experiences while playing a small role in the 1984 film The Killing Fields. Gray's ramblings encompass such subject as Southeast Asian politics, the availability of sex and drugs in the Third World, and even a few choice observations about New York City. The monologist sits at a desk throughout, while director Jonathan Demme makes no effort to "cinematize" the material. Still, the film is a fascinating hour and a half, and few viewers will feel the impulse to walk out of the theatre or fast-forward the VCR. Swimming to Cambodia was followed by another Spalding Gray "talking theatre" piece, Monster in a Box. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
There's nothing inherently cinematic about watching a man talk for 87 minutes. But Jonathan Demme's film version of Spalding Gray's one-man show works remarkably well, mainly because the director has enough respect for Gray's material to present it properly. Demme knows when to move in or pull back or shift the angle of his camera to match the rhythms of Gray's monologue; the photography breaks up the material visually but never calls attention to itself, much of the time simply staying put. When Gray gets rolling, Demme just stays on him, capturing the meter of his voice and the landscape of his face (and even the bits of spittle that occasionally burst from his lips). Gray's monologue is compelling and deeply felt from start to finish; it would probably have been interesting even in the hands of an inept filmmaker, and its translation by a director as skilled and intelligent as Demme allows us to appreciate Gray's gifts all the more. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Edward Saxon - Associate Producer, Jonathan Demme - Director, Carol Littleton - Editor, Ira Deutchman - Executive Producer, Peter Newman - Executive Producer, Lewis M. Allen - Executive Producer, Laurie Anderson - Composer (Music Score), Sandy McLeod - Production Designer, John Bailey - Cinematographer, Ira Deutchman - Producer, Peter Newman - Producer, Edward Saxon - Producer, Lewis M. Allen - Producer, Renee Shafransky - Producer, Spalding Gray - Screenwriter, Ira Deutchman - Co-Executive Producer, Amir J. Malin - Co-Executive Producer
Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987Jonathan Demme-directed performance film. The film is a performance of Spalding Gray's monologue which centered around such themes as his trip to Southeast Asia to create the role of the U.S. Ambassador's aide in The Killing Fields, the Cold War, CambodiaYear Zero and his search for his "perfect moment". The film grossed slightly over a million dollars.
Performances
Swimming to Cambodia was originally a theatre piece on which Gray spent two years working. The original running time of the performance was four hours long and took place over two nights. Swimming to Cambodia won Gray an Obie award.
The opening shots of the film depict Gray walking toward The Performing Garage in New York. He goes in and after walking in past the audience, he takes his seat behind a table. On the table is a glass of water, a microphone and a notebook which Gray brought with him. Behind him are two pulldown maps. One is a map of Southeast Asia and the other is a diagram of the bombing of Cambodia, which Gray tells the viewers/audience was called Operation Menu. There is also back-lit projection screen which has projected on it a picture of a beach.
The soundtrack for this film was composed and performed by Laurie Anderson, who would also score Gray's follow-up film, Monster in a Box. Gray returned the favor by providing the voice of a TV interviewer for her 1986 short film, What You Mean We?. No soundtrack album was released; Anderson later reused music from the film for a series of "Personal Service Announcements" she produced in 1989 to promote her album, Strange Angels.
While Sam Waterston and Ira Wheeler are credited as additional cast in this film, they are only shown in clips from the film The Killing Fields.
The monologue was first published in book form two years before the release of the film.
