Last Swim review – fresh blood in British film!

Deba Hekmat leads Last Swim’s ensemble cast as Ziba, a second gen Iranian overachiever whose love for astrophysics has her vying for a place at the prestigious UCL. Her friends, Tara (Lydia Fleming), Merf (Jay Lycurgo) and Shea (Solly McLeod) are less academically ambitious, ready to pursue adult life as dancers, models and car mechanics respectively. However, this doesn’t stop them from joining Ziba on her wild bucket list journey around the north side of the capital. Armed with Ziba’s printed itinerary, the loveable – and totally believable – crew of best friends don’t question her Type-A approach to the day, traipsing to Ziba’s favourite falafel shop and swimming in Hampstead Heath.

Through intermittent hazy flashbacks we come to learn Ziba has been diagnosed with an undisclosed illness that she is hiding from her friends and that threatens to rob her of her UCL dream. The film opens on the Blue Marble image of planet earth, while we hear Ziba ace her UCL admissions interview. Teenagers often feel the weight of the world on their shoulders, overcome by the insignificance of their existence and determined for that not to be true. By choosing not to disclose the illness, Nathwani and his co-writer Helen Simmons (producer on Hoard and Bonus Track) tap in to the hardheaded teenage tenacity that says “If I can’t live my life on my own terms, life isn’t worth living” that leads Ziba to formulate the perfect day before privately vowing to take her last swim.

What’s most effective in not disclosing the illness is it allows room for type-A viewers to nostalgically reinterpret their own adolescence. The soundtrack features King Krule’s ‘Easy Easy’ and Jamie XX’s ‘SeeSaw’, a treat for younger millennials whose perfect summer days were undoubtedly soundtracked by these two artists. Cinematographer Olan Collardy previously worked on Rye Lane, and his eye for the city is even sharper and more affectionate here. Shots of iconic brutalist building Trellick Tower make way for euphoric dance breaks on the tube and scenic bike rides down Bishop’s Avenue otherwise known as Billionaire’s Row, a wealth these working-class London kids will only ever brush past.

Ziba’s idealistic tour through the city in Shea’s old banger is threatened by interloper Malcolm (Denzel Baidoo) a guy from the year above who got signed to a football club, and who the rest of the gang have been hanging out with all summer while Ziba ignored their calls. Both Ziba and Malcolm function as two sides of the second gen overachieving coin, working-class kids from single parent households tasked with the hopes and dreams of their family.

While initially hostile to Malcolm, he and Ziba collude in a shared secret that introduces a romantic string to the bow of the story and allows Ziba to gain a new perspective on her situation. Last Swim is a compelling, textured and authentic London coming-of-age story anchored by an exciting new generation of acting talent.