Sink or Swim

My favorite film from last weeks screening was definitely Su Friedrich's "Sink or Swim" It felt sort of like I was seeing a woman's diary over her lifetime. Her memories played out for us in a very simplistic and straightforward manner, and even though they didn't match the narration exactly (I'm not sure if the narration is non-diegetic or non-synchronous, or if those catagories even apply to narration?) hearing her voice explain the significance of particular scenes helped to make the film more audience friendly. I think the reason that I enjoyed "Sink or Swim" so much is because Friedrich works hard to make her presence felt in the film, and even though there isn't a very strong story line, there is a character that you can identify with. Hearing the stories about a little girl in a time when her parents were getting a divorce, its hard to not care. The seemingly random aspects of the film, like the part about the birth of Athena, made the film more whimsicle and helped us remember that the film is from memory, not from reality. As a child she probably thought she had come directly from her father, just as Athena did.