The Swimming With Sharks Page



A quick glance at the media information could well lead one to assume that Swimming With Sharks was made with a similar aim. It certainly doesn't prepare you for the reality of the film, which is a tale of severe mental abuse. The abuser is Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey) a studio exec with one hell of an ego and a nasty temper to go with it. The abused, Guy (Frank Whaley), is Ackerman's fresh-out-of-film-school assistant. It seems inconceivable that anyone could find their relationship funny, even taking into account a penchant for the blackest sense of humour. Buddy repeatedly tells Guy that he's nothing, that he didn't exist before he came to work for him, that he has no brain, that his thoughts are worthless. He throws coffee at him if it's not hot enough, he throws bagels at him if they've got too much cream cheese on them, he steals Guy's ideas, takes all the credit and still bawls him out for not doing his job.
Two things make this relentless tirade bearable - one being our need to know just why Guy puts up with this abuse for so long (the passage of time is reinforced through a series of titles from Day One, to Week One up to Year One) and the other being the amazing power play it represents. As the film progresses it becomes clear that the two are almost inseparable. Buddy controls Guy because he knows exactly what Guy wants, and especially because Guy is too naive at first to admit what is really in his heart and how far he'll go to get it. Much credit has to go to Spacey for his ability to take his character to such sadistic extremes while making us marvel at his intelligence and manipulative capabilities. Nowhere is this more evident than in the climatic scenes where Guy decides to torture his torturer. Status play would usually decree that the guy tied to the chair has lower status than his captor. One can only sit back and savour the visual irony then when Buddy, despite one brief moment of weakness, gains the upper hand yet again.
Swimming With Sharks is not what you could call light entertainment, but it escapes being plain nasty through solid acting (even if Whaley at times seems too pliant) and some clever scripting: "You're going to make a killing in this business," Buddy remarks to Guy with cool irony.

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