The defence The Prestige Tourist
“Ambition earns the room.”
The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.
Back to trending 
Swimming Upstream
Drama · 2003
A young man aspiring for recognition of his talents battles against his estranged father's sentiment towards him as the father deals with his own demons.
Movie details
Swimming Upstream
2003 Drama 1h 54m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.0 / 10
3.5K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
62 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
58 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.8 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
A young man aspiring for recognition of his talents battles against his estranged father's sentiment towards him as the father deals with his own demons.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Swimming Upstream?
For the defence
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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What's Love Got to Do with It
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Bigger Than Life
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A friendly, successful suburban teacher and father grows dangerously addicted to cortisone, resulting in his transformation into a household despot.
The Hours
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Shine
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Pianist David Helfgott, driven by his father and teachers, has a breakdown. Years later he returns to the piano, to popular if not critical acclaim.
Dad
Drama · 1989
A busy executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes closer to him than ever before. Estranged from his own son, the executive comes to realize what has been missing in his own life.
The Hurricane
Drama · 1999
The story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.
The Fabelmans
Drama · 2022
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Russell Mulcahy
Written by
Anthony Fingleton
Geoffrey Rush
Harold Fingleton
Judy Davis
Dora Fingleton
Jesse Spencer
Tony Fingleton
Tim Draxl
John Fingleton
Deborah Kennedy
Billie
David Hoflin
Harold Fingleton Jr.
Craig Horner
Ronald Fingleton
Court is in session
Put Swimming Upstream on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Importance has entered the chat.”
The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.