The Gymnast | |
---|---|
Directed by | Ned Farr |
Written by | Michael Carp |
Produced by | Ned Farr |
Starring | Dreya Weber Addie Yungmee David De Simone |
Cinematography | Marco Fargnoli |
Edited by | Ned Farr |
Music by | Craig Richey |
Distributed by | Wolfe Releasing |
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Gymnast is a 2006 film directed by Ned Farr and starring Dreya Weber, Addie Yungmee, and David De Simone. It received a sequel called The Aerialist released in 2020.
Jane Hawkins (Dreya Weber) was once an Olympic gymnast whose career was ended by a devastating injury. [1] Now in her 40s, she is in a loveless and childless marriage to her husband David (David de Simone) and works as a massage therapist, while still exercising religiously to keep herself in peak condition.
After a chance meeting with a former friend from the gymnastics world, Denise (Allison Mackie), Jane takes an interest in aerial dance and begins lessons with gymnastics trainer Nicole (Mam Smith). During her lessons, Jane meets Serena (Addie Yungmee), a Korean-American dancer who grew up in a Jewish adoptive family, and is a closeted (at least with respect to her parents) lesbian. Serena, Nicole and Jane begin to work together on a Cirque du Soleil style aerial act, which Nicole hopes to present in Las Vegas. However, Nicole is forced to drop out for family reasons. As Jane and Serena continue to work together on the act, they develop an increasingly romantic relationship. Jane finds herself torn between her growing love for Serena, and the potential for a rekindled relationship with her husband who now wants a child.
Jane's husband finds out about the attraction between the two women, and Jane packs her bags and leaves. The movie ends with Jane driving to Las Vegas, where Serena is.
The Gymnast won both the Grand Jury Award for 'Outstanding American Narrative Feature' and the Audience Award for 'Outstanding First Narrative Feature' at the 2006 Los Angeles Outfest film festival. [2]
The Gymnast was positively reviewed. AfterEllen.com called it “a beautiful, understated film” that “stays true to itself and its characters.” [3] Variety described it as “well acted, well performed” and “surprisingly engrossing despite treading familiar ‘Lifetime Movie’-type female empowerment territory.” [4] In Out at the Movies, Steven Paul Davies said "The Gymnast has been simply one of the best, and most well-received, lesbian-interest movies of recent years." [5] Conversely, in a scholarly analysis, academic Katharina Lindner noted the film's "clichéd story line" acted as "a reinforcement of rather problematic racial and sexual binaries." [6]
Ludmilla Ivanovna Tourischeva is a former Russian gymnast, Ukrainian gymnast coach, all-round Olympic champion and a nine-time Olympic medalist for the Soviet Union.
Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner is a Romanian retired gymnast. She is a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. In 1976, at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games. At the same Games, she received six more perfect 10s for events en route to winning three gold medals. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, she won two more gold medals and achieved two more perfect 10s. During her career, she won nine Olympic medals and four World Artistic Gymnastics Championship medals.
Dame Elizabeth Jane Campion is a New Zealand filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing the critically acclaimed films The Piano (1993) and The Power of the Dog (2021), for which she has received two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Campion was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM) in the 2016 New Year Honours, for services to film.
Dreya Weber born May 8 1961 in Bloomington, Indiana, USA, is an American actress, producer, director, and aerialist.
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Katherine Brooks is an American film writer and director. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, a Jury Member for Samsung Fresh-Films 2007, and the recipient of the LACE Award for Arts and Entertainment. In 2011, she was named one of the "Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz" by POWER UP.
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Janet Baus is an American documentary film and television director, producer and editor. In 1993, she co-directed Lesbian Avengers Eat Fire Too with Su Friedrich, about activist group the Lesbian Avengers. In 2003, she produced John Scagliotti's film Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World about gay and lesbian people in non-Western countries. She had worked with Scagliotti before, having a co-producer credit on his 1999 film After Stonewall. Her 2006 film Cruel and Unusual, co-directed with Dan Hunt and Reid Williams, was a documentary about pre-operative male-female transsexual women in men's prisons. It won the Michael J. Berg Documentary Award at the 2006 Frameline Film Festival and the Freedom Award at L.A. Outfest. Baus has also won the Cine Golden Eagle, the Vito Russo Award, the Chicago International Television Award and the Gold Aurora Award.
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