Swimming Upstream "Morris Bird III" Movie Discussion Thread



The scrapbook of most teenagers shows family members and friends at a picnic, at the high school basketball game, at Disneyland. Morris Bird III's, however, paints a different picture. This happy-go-lucky, all-American kid whose only wish in life is to get laid by his cute, but hesitant girlfriend suddenly faces terminal cancer, bringing painful and difficult issues to the surface. Picture an alcoholic father, played by Michael Moriarty, whose devotion to the bottle and mastery of self-pity keeps him from communicating with his son and daughter. Picture a teenage boy whose English teacher encourages him to write; he's eloquent, full of passion for life, and is the type of free-spirit who goes against the grain, walking up on the wrong side of the escalator. Picture a best friend, played by Ben Savage, who may not be the most mature person in the world, but his support makes up for that. Then there's a sister who nurses the wounds felt from living in a fractured family. Now try to imagine a mother who died when Morris was five; her picture is missing and the only way to get a complete sense of her is through the alcoholic father. In a moving, honest scene at the end, Morris Bird II gives Morris Bird III the truth and then some. He offers his love and desire to have a relationship with his son, giving this young man completion before he succumbs to his tragic fate.

Matt's role: Morris Bird III
Release: 2002
Genre: Drama
Also starring: Ben Savage, Michael Moriarty, Jeffrey DeMunn, Kelly Rutherford
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material and a scene of sensuality.
Director: Robert J. Emery
Writer: Robert J. Emery, Don Robertson

Trailer Swimming Upstream - thnx to Conny!

Quotes:
Morris Bird III: Have you ever loved anyone, Teddy?
Teddy Benevides: Yeah, my parents until I was 12.
Morris Bird III: I was being serious.
Teddy Benevides: So was I.

Morris: “I think I love Julie and I know she loves me because she keeps telling me that she does. Girls don’t just say that when they don’t mean it. I feel so damn comfortable around her. She is like a second skin or something like we were born the same day from the same woman. “
Teddy:“That would be incest, Morris!”
Morris “No that would be love I begin to feel”

Morris: I end up and think a lot about dead people. Dead people I used to know. Like my mother and some neighbours...Thinking about dead people doesn't really help my situation out that much.... I'm scared and I want that scared thing go away... I will live every last minute I can, you know?
I feel like a damn fish swimming upstream, against the current beeing push back and back. Trying to get where I'm going, not knowing if I'll ever get there, like my life is beeing compressed somehow, I dream that every night now, every night. I wake up with the sweats and the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and I want it to go away."

Morris:
Spring is not always life, summer not always warmth.
Sometimes this season brings sadness and tears.
Spring is often a struggle...summer a disappointment.




Previous Threads:

#1 ~ Swimming Upstream Morris Bird III

Tittle Suggestions:

"We're in desperate need to see the alternative ending"
"Soccer makes Matt even hotter."
"OMG! Can we watch the shower scene again?"
"Cause summer can be a disappointment. "
"Cause sometimes this seasons bring sadness and tears"
"He felt like a damn fish swimming upstream"