Against The Current DVD
Featuring an all star cast including BAFTA Award Nominee Joseph Fiennes (Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Shakespeare in Love,1998), Golden Globe Nominee Justin Kirk (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for Weeds, 2005), Emmy Nominee Elizabeth Reaser (Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for Grey's Anatomy, 2005), Michelle Trachtenberg (TV’s Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Oscar Winner Mary Tyler Moore (Best Actress in a Leading Role for Ordinary People, 1980), Against The Current is the funny and touching story of three friends’ journey down the entire length of the 150 mile Hudson River in New York. The film arrives on DVD January 9 for £19.99 RRP.
Against The Current is the story of Paul Thompson, (Fiennes), a man who sets out to swim the entire length of the Hudson River - all 150 miles, from Troy, NY to Manhattan.
Joining Paul is his best friend since childhood, Jeff (Kirk) and Liz (Reaser), a teacher with nothing better to do during her summer break. Together, the trio embarks upon an unusual road trip, a three-week adventure down the Hudson.
Adamant that they reach New York City by August 28, Paul keeps everyone on a tight schedule.
Rain or shine, he swims, while his friends ride alongside in a boat, stopping each night to camp along the river’s edge.
However, the journey soon takes a troubling turn when Paul reveals that there is more to this adventure than Jeff and Liz originally thought. Paul, who is still grieving a tragic loss, feels that after he completes this swim he will truly have nothing left to live for.
Realising that the only way to help Paul is to continue with the swim, Jeff and Liz agree to stay on.
And so with each passing stroke, a gallows humour settles over the three as they find themselves debating the finer points of jelly donuts, sex, and death. As the jokes and one-liners mix with deeper exchanges, the journey down river becomes a battle not only to save a friend, but to also discover what it is they ultimately seek inside themselves.
Both tragic and funny, Against The Current is a compelling and uncompromising exploration of sorrow and loss, one’s right to determine one’s own fate, and the limits and responsibilities of friendship.
Against The Current was written and directed by Peter Callahan (Last Ball) and produced by Joshua Zeman and Mary Jane Skalski.
Against The Current has a runtime of 94 minutes and is rated 15.