Back to trending
Swimming Upstream

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.

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?

The 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.

The Chronology of Water

The Chronology of Water

Drama · 2025

Plagued by an abusive childhood, a woman finds escape in competitive swimming, sexual experimentation, toxic relationships, and addiction before ultimately finding her voice through writing.

Julien Donkey-Boy

Julien Donkey-Boy

Drama · 1999

Undiagnosed, untreated and generally untethered schizophrenic Julien lives with his pregnant younger sister, anorexic aspiring wrestler brother, sympathetic grandmother, and severely depressed and abusive German father.

Honey Boy

Honey Boy

Drama · 2019

The story of a child star attempting to mend his relationship with his law-breaking, alcohol-abusing father over the course of a decade, loosely based on Shia LaBeouf’s life.

This Boy's Life

This Boy's Life

Drama · 1993

When a son and mother move to Seattle in hopes for a better life, the mother meets a seemingly polite man. Things go south when the man turns out to be abusive, endangering their lives. As the mother struggles to maintain hope in an impossible situation, the son has plans to escape.

Joe Bell

Joe Bell

Drama · 2020

The true story of a small town, working class father who embarks on a solo walk across the U.S. to crusade against bullying after his son is tormented in high school for being gay.

Falling

Falling

Drama · 2020

John Peterson lives with his partner Eric and their adopted daughter in Southern California. When he is visited by his aging father Willis from Los Angeles who is searching for a place to retire, their two very different worlds collide.

Ordinary People

Ordinary People

Drama · 1980

Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is overcome by grief and misplaced guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. He is in therapy. Beth had always preferred his brother and is having difficulty being supportive to Conrad. Calvin is trapped between the two trying to hold the family together.

The Etruscan Smile

The Etruscan Smile

Drama · 2018

Rory MacNeil, a rugged old Scotsman, reluctantly leaves his beloved isolated Hebridean island and travels to San Francisco to seek medical treatment. Moving in with his estranged son, Rory sees his life transformed through a newly found bond with his baby grandson.

Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy

Drama · 2018

After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.

Moonlight

Moonlight

Drama · 2016

The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Russell Mulcahy

Written by

Anthony Fingleton

Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush

Harold Fingleton

Judy Davis

Judy Davis

Dora Fingleton

Jesse Spencer

Jesse Spencer

Tony Fingleton

Tim Draxl

Tim Draxl

John Fingleton

Deborah Kennedy

Deborah Kennedy

Billie

David Hoflin

David Hoflin

Harold Fingleton Jr.

Craig Horner

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 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.

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.