Swimming To Cambodia

Swimming To Cambodia
Released by: Shout! Factory
Released on: May 28, 2013.
Director: Jonathan Demme
Cast: Spalding Gray
Year: 1987
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The Movie:

Spalding Gray had a small role in Roland Joffé's 1984 film, The Killing Fields, a picture that told the story of a photographer trapped in Cambodia during the worst part of Pol Pot's violent regime. Out of the experiences had had working on that film, he crafted a monologue and in 1987 had filmmaker Jonathan Demme film him performing it sitting behind a desk at The Performing Garage in New York City.

So this is mostly just an hour and a half or so of a guy sitting behind a desk talking about a bit part in a movie? Yes it is, and as boring as that might sound, it's hard to imagine it being any more interesting than it is. Gray would go on to make better known and better regarded monologue projects than this, but here he lays the groundwork for what would come and damn if he doesn't tell a good story while he's at it.

So sitting behind the desk, Gray hits the ground running, talking briefly about how he got the part and then how he and the crew were shipped off to Thailand which was to stand in for Cambodia. Instantly awash in a world of kinky sex and illicit narcotics use, he's a fish out of water and on top of that, he was fairly unfamiliar with the subject matter of the picture and doing a lot of 'learning as you go' during the production. As he tells one fascinating story after another throughout the duration he makes interesting contrasts comparing life in Thailand, or at least the Thailand he experienced, to life growing up in the rougher, darker days of his native New York City.

Of course, while he was in Thailand he was fairly determined to experience all that it had to offer and so aside from social and geographical comparisons we also get some stark and often hilarious stories about encounters with prostitutes and brothel employees as well as a glimpse into just how rampant drug use seemed to have been. Mind you, while all of this 'adventuring' was going on, there was a film being made and he did play a part in that as well.

Demme's direction isn't flashy but it doesn't need to be. Some clever sound effects are used throughout Gray's performance to add some dramatic weight to things and to occasionally take us by surprise. This helps to break up the 'guy behind a desk' format, which admittedly could have tanked the whole project but thankfully never does. What Demme wisely does, however, is let Gray be the focal point. As he gets more into what he's doing and becomes more animated and enthusiastic about his subjects, some clever angles are used to accentuate things but the focus never shifts from Gray. The end result is a mix of anecdotes, historical facts and personal experiences that is never short of fascinating.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Swimming To Cambodia arrives on DVD from Shout! Factory in an attractive 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. It's a fairly simple looking movie and not a picture with wild colors or crazy cinematography so what we see here seems pretty true to source. Detail is fine for a standard definition transfer and the image is crisp, clean, clear and stable.

There isn't a ton of separation in the disc's Dolby Digital 2.0 track but the levels are balanced very well and the sound effects that are used quite literally as punctuation marks throughout the piece have some serious punch behind them. Gray's voice comes through cleanly and clearly and with some impressive presence.

There's only one extra on the disc, outside of menus and chapter selection, but it's a good one: director Jonathan Demme shows up on camera for a seventeen minute interview and speaks quite candidly about how and why this film came to be and what it was like working with Gray on this particular performance piece. It's quite interesting and fairly revealing and a very nice companion piece to the feature.

The Final Word:

Shout! Factory offers up on of Spalding Gray's most interesting performance pieces on Blu-ray in very fine shape with one decent supplement in the form of a director interview featuring Jonathan Demme. This is really all about Gray, however - he's just such an interesting guy and a gifted storyteller that you can't help but get pulled in. Definitely worth seeing.