SCREEN | Kristen Stewart Swims Past 'The Chronology of Water'

"We will publish or perish together!"

The Forge

Talented actress turned first-time feature filmmaker Kristen Stewart directs Imogen Poots in her riveting portrayal of Oregon-based, bestselling author Lidia Yuknavitch in a hazy film adaptation of the latter's 2011 cult memoir, The Chronology of Water. Framed around a tumultuous family life centred on parental abuse leading to both substance and sex addiction before a promising competitive swimming career, the film is a narratively ambitious portrait of personal salvation.

Co-starring the elusive yet powerful presence of Thora Birch as her supportive sister, we follow Yuknavitch's tumultuous origins as a high-level athlete and addict before finding her literary voice in teaching and publishing while coming to terms with her dysfunctional upbringing. We get the sense of freedom and control of swimming represents beyond the act of moving through water. It anchors her professional life that serves as an appropriate visual montage representation of bodily autonomy for the author's struggles with drugs and sex before success as a writer.

The Chronology of Water takes a radically impressionistic approach to its visceral biographical material. Stewart chooses to blend Yujnavitch's trauma and history of pain through Poot's raw but magnetic performance with a lyrical look filmed on 16mm stock to resemble a stream-of-consciousness home movie recalled from faded memories. Also, of note, Jim Belushi gives a wonderfully tender performance as essayist and countercultural figure Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

The Chronology of Water screens at the VIFF Centre starting January 23rd.


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