Swing (2004)

Swing is the dance- and music-filled story of Anthony Verdi (Casey), a young man caught between his dream of being a full-time musician and the conventional life of his security-minded father (Skerritt) and long-time fiancé (Waingort). But Anthony has the encouragement of several important people around him. There is Bill Verdi, his loving great-uncle (Winters), who is determined that Anthony will not meet with the same fate as his musician brother, Anthony's grandfather whom he never knew. Anthony's outrageous bass-playing roommate (Cohn) knows first-hand the joys and satisfactions of a musician's life. The head of his great-uncle's nursing home (Carter) recognizes Anthony's talent and leads him to an important break. First and foremost there is Christine, the beautiful older woman (Bisset) he meets in an out-of-this-world forties night club he chances upon, who teaches him to swing dance. From her he also learns that swing is a metaphor for life and that, only if he follows his heart and starts being who he truly is, can real happiness be his. Along this journey of self-discovery, which includes confronting his father's expectations and coming to the realization that he and his fiancé no longer share a common future, a young woman named Tina (Brenneman) keeps reappearing, a sure sign that Anthony is heading in the right direction. Barry Bostwick, Christine's late husband and angelic mentor; Jim Hanks, the all-knowing maitre'd of the night club; and Adam Tomei, the eccentric drummer of Anthony's trio, round out the cast. More »

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