Unexpected Double Feature: “Swan Song” & “Everest”

Sad dads wearing sick beanies, a cinematic universe

Note: this is a pseudo-Father’s Day post all about dads. If you think that topic sucks, I get it, and recommend skipping this week in favor of dunking on Ben Affleck in The Town, which I hear just landed on Netflix.

For those who celebrate Father’s Day, this Sunday might be filled with some sort of meat cooked on a grill, gifted coffee subscriptions, tinkering with some tools, and a tucked in polo shirt. Dads are a wide target, their clichés made cliché by their cinematic depictions. You can have the dense dad from The Parent Trap who can’t even tell his twin daughters apart. Or the emotionally distant dad from The Royal Tenenbaums whose superficial efforts to connect with his kids only pushes them further away. Or the domineering dad from The Iron Claw whose abusive demands for perfection drive his sons into their own versions of demise. Or the heroic dad from The Gladiator who will stop at nothing to avenge his family.

But there’s a type of dad that often gets overlooked for these banal archetypes. The kind of dad who makes silent sacrifices without grand speeches and redemption arcs, and for this unexpected double feature, this type of dad is the thread that ties them together. I’m talking about Everest (2015) and Swan Song (2021), two films that have a lot more in common than I would have ever expected.

Swan Song (2021)

For the uninitiated, which I’m assuming is the entire world because I had heard about these movies a total of zero times before watching them¹, Everest is a retelling of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster directed by Baltasar Kormákur and Swan Song is a near future sci-fi/drama directed by Benjamin Cleary.

Swan Song follows our first dad, played by Mahershala Ali, who is hiding a terminal illness from his family so he can undergo a relatively new procedure in which he clones himself (dad #2) so the clone can become his replacement and eat spaghetti with his family when he dies. It’s the kind of movie that had me bracing for a clever twist that refreshingly never came. The meet-cute was one of the most endearing I’ve seen as of late and the dichotomy between the tech and the tenderness really worked for me in a way that can so often feel forced. I think that’s a testament to just how incredible the performances are from Mahershala Ali and Naomi Harris. Fans of Her (2013), Never Let Me Go (2010), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) will probably vibe with Swan Song.

Our third² dad in question is Rob Hall, a real life mountaineering legend, portrayed by Jason Clarke in Everest. I watched it on a whim from a Netflix recommendation (something I so rarely do³) and it led me down a rabbit hole that I’m just now climbing out of. As the pioneer of commercial Himalayan excursions, Rob Hall, leads a team of 8 clients and 3 guides up Everest in the hopes of summiting on May 10th, 1996. Fixed lines aren’t adequately prepared, turnaround times aren’t adhered to, oxygen masks get choked, a blizzard hits, and devastation ensues. Watching Everest reminded me that I’m actually quite partial to cinematic retellings of historical disasters (hello, Titanic). In some demented way I enjoy them and Everest was no exception. Fans of 127 Hours (2010) and a shirtless Jake Gyllenhaal will probably get down with Everest.

The Sad Dad Cinematic Universe

Everest (2015)

Star studded casts for forgotten dads

Both films are stacked with celebrities. Swan Song was likely a COVID production so it has a relatively small cast but everyone, truly everyone, is a celebrity. I mean, it has freaking Glenn Close. I read that it was Mahershala’s first starring role and that’s so wild to me, that man could carry any movie on his back–and I would be sat for every single one. On the Everest side there are basically too many stars to list but it blesses us with a few some performances that I think are worth noting: Keira Knightley speaking in a New Zealand accent, Sam Worthington doing the least (thank god), Mia Goth cosplaying as a regular girl from Texas, Elizabeth Debicki drawing weather patterns on a map for the entire third act, and Jake Gyllenhaal acting like a dude you can find at Stoney Point on any given Tuesday.

Despite both of these films having such star power, I never heard a peep about them. I never came across their discussion threads on r/movies⁴. I never found a rogue meme laying about in my explore page. No one ever asked me, “hey did you see that new Josh Brolin movie?”⁵ It was just crickets. Much like the sacrifices these dads make, the films went relatively unnoticed.

Cozy aesthetics revealing cold truths

Oh the places a Mahershala beanie goes… It gives me hope that rolled up beanies are still a thing in the future where you task your clone with selling real estate while you spend your final days at a beautiful retreat on the coast of British Columbia. And I know I shouldn’t be thinking about what a cop all of that 90s mountaineering gear is, but I’m going to hell and I would love to wear one of those Mountain Hardware hats before I go.

Two very different dads, one very similar gut punch

The real heart wrenching moments for me come from two pivotal scenes of sacrifice. In Everest, Keira Knightley as Jan Arnold, an experienced mountaineer in her own right, speaks to her husband Rob Hall on his final phone call. They silently avoid saying what they both know, that Rob won’t make it off the mountain, come home, or meet their unborn daughter.

In Swan Song, Cameron sneaks off one last time to see his family after the clone swap has already been made. He can’t explicitly say goodbye to them, that would defeat the purpose of all of the work he’s done cloning himself. So, instead he spends the night with his son trying to live a moment he’ll never get to have and holding his wife for the last time.

They both have children they’ll never meet but they make the best choices they can under their circumstances. And although their situations couldn’t be more different they both take these moments to tell their partners what to name their unborn children, hoping to leave an imprint that will continue on past their deaths. These fathers are enacting their final act of love: leaving. They show their love by letting go.

Swan Song (2021)

Not all heroes wear tucked in polo shirts

Neither of these films went viral but neither do these portrayals of fatherhood. Because we rarely see the kind that loves silently. And Everest and Swan Song showcase a version of fatherhood that is so seldom seen in cinema, one where sacrifice isn’t rewarded, love is invisible but unforgettable, and no one claps at the end.

1. Which I didn’t even think could still happen to someone as chronically online, and on Letterboxd, as me.

2. And fourth, and fifth, etc…honestly this movie is littered with dads.

3. I’ve since deleted my account because I’m *ahem* a cinephile.

4. I have now in researching for this newsletter so they do, in fact, exist.

5. 2015 would have been an unfair time to ask this question since Sicario and one of his Marvel movies had come out the same year.