Swimming to Cambodia (1987) on Netflix
Spalding Gray sits behind a desk and recounts his trip to Southeast Asia, where he played a small part in The Killing Fields. His monologue also covers the recent history of Cambodia.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.6/102,588 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Gray arrives at a New York performance space, walks past the audience, and sits down behind a table set with a microphone, a glass of water, and his notebook. Behind him hang two pull-down maps, one of Southeast Asia and one of the bombing campaign he calls Operation Breakfast, plus a back-lit screen showing a beach. He talks about the time he spent in Southeast Asia making The Killing Fields, where he had the small part of the aide to the American ambassador, and about the people he met there, among them Renée Shafransky, Gray's girlfriend, and the film's second unit cinematographer Ivan Strasburg. He also sets out the recent history of Cambodia, from the Cold War through the rise of the Khmer Rouge and Cambodia Year Zero, and describes his search for his perfect moment.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Swimming to Cambodia (1987)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Spalding Gray spent two years developing Swimming to Cambodia as a theater performance piece before it became a film; the original stage version ran four hours and was performed over two nights.
- Laurie Anderson composed and performed the film's soundtrack, and although no soundtrack album was released, she later reused music from the film for a series of "Personal Service Announcements" she produced in 1989 to promote her album Strange Angels.
