How to Swim sees a pregnant woman coming up on her due date, who misses her mother. She sees another woman in the waiting area who reminds her of her mother, and pretends to be a childhood friend of the woman's daughter in order to spend some time with her.
There is a nice observational tone to this short, where the pregnant woman attaches herself to this surrogate figure and tries to have an experience that fills a gap she is currently feeling. The message of the ending (and title) is a good one, but for me the film was limited by how I felt about the two lead characters. I quite liked the pregnant woman and found her sympathetic, but I didn't really like the harshness of the older woman and didn't warm to her at all. More importantly, I didn't feel like the two had much chemistry or the feel of a genuine bond forming, which meant that I was even less sold by it.
The film itself is nicely made and uses locations well, but since the relationship is the crux of it all, it didn't work because that aspect didn't work for me. I suspect that the film will hit home more for those that connect to the characters or the relationship more, but for me this gap limited it.
