“Deeper Than Y” is a short and sweet documentary about what we are and what we may become, from them that know. Set within a group of friends, the film is a series of interviews with the octogenarians that attend a particular swim class. The class instructor, Ilona Siller, saw a story in the lives of these people and wrote a script of questions about who they were, what they had done and what could have gone better. Oh yes, and why do they swim?
The film is sprinkled with scenes of the seven stars in their homes and in the streets of Manhattan by the Vanderbilt YMCA. Their former lives span the spectrum of American endeavor, from an executive in a jeans manufacturing company to an actress, a secretary and housewife. The film is composed of only the words of the swimmers, the questions from the film maker kept off screen. The responses are edited into a patchwork rumination of what was good, what was not so good, and how in the end there is little difference between the two except what we make of it.
The film is largely devoid of pictures of grandchildren, focusing mostly on first-hand life experiences. The group is from the local neighborhood, the proximate time square area of New York City, which contains a huge cross section of America. On the one hand, everything from clothing to entertainment is either made, bought or sold there. The executive of the group made a great living specializing in jeans for the overweight. Not a simple proposition, we understand, in a world where everything seems to be oriented towards the skinny. But he gave it his best shot and seems to have been rewarded with a comfortable retirement.
Would he have rather designed jeans for the models we actually see in the four-story electronic billboards at Times Square? Possibly so, but he survived without either excessive psychotherapy or drugs and now has the rest of his life to himself. So be it. Behind the scenes of the interviews, each of the participants asks themselves their most important questions. Was it worth it? How could it have been better? Why aren’t we listened to any more....
Dorothy, the Broadway stage performer wonders what it would have been like to be really big instead of simply working in the theatre. Her voice and smile still have the snap of the true professional. Was she trained to smile like that or was she hired as a performer because the smile came natural? She wasn’t famous, but she “worked” and that is enough, she says. She stayed on stage for most of her working life while others came and went. Many died much younger than her; casualties to fame and fortune. Was she one of the lucky ones, or did luck evade her? Even now she asks those questions and the audience wonders, too. One way or the other, she is still singing. “Ain’t we got fun!” Well, if not barrels of fun, at least memories that we can live with.
The secretary observes that she went through life mostly biting her tongue and swallowing her ideas, as good or better than those of the people she worked for. What a universal feeling that is, being under appreciated. Is that the universal anthem of the working class? But the truth is, many of us have the privilege of forming the outcome of our ideas any way we wish, since the truth will never be known. To try new ideas and see them fail can be destructive. To try new ideas and see them succeed can be even more so. The swimmers at the Vanderbilt Y are survivors in more ways than one. They succeeded in taking the best that life to offer while keeping up their guard enough to not die in the process.
Love? They had it. Several still do. Success, they had enough of it to see it for what it is, mostly a dream. Dignity, that is the most important thing. Like Frank Sinatra, they pretty-much did it their way. Although maybe feeling like gears in the big clock, they had their choices and took them as they saw fit. Their lives are unique. They are special. The Vanderbilt is their turf now and they are filming this particular version of West Side Story. Maria, you are still one of us. Your spirit swims at the Y in Times Square.
We have no theatrical release date for this movie. Visit the official site for possible updates.
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