Swan Song (2021) poster
2021 · drama · sci-fi

Swan Song

Directed by Benjamin Cleary1h 52m2021
ElsewhereIMDb6.819kRT80%Metacritic66
  • inventive
Movie DNA

Neutral, steady, measured drama / sci-fi, surreal in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

In the near future, Cameron Turner is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Presented with an experimental solution to shield his wife and son from grief, he grapples with altering their fate in this thought-provoking exploration of love, loss, and sacrifice.

Our read · Swan Song (2021) reads as a neutral, steady, surreal drama · sci-fi entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

Where the cast leads
Where to watch
Not on streaming here right now.Check JustWatch Check Letterboxd
More info & search links
Fingerprint

The shape of Swan Song

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a tender sci-fi meditation on love, mortality, and impossible choices.

ends bittersweetit stays with youa slow buildgrips by minute 12attention 4/5earns its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around

Skip it tonightSkip if terminal-illness grief will hit too close tonight.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
Your take
Rate it
star-clip-1-0star-clip-2-0star-clip-3-0star-clip-4-0star-clip-5-0
React
Discussion

Discussion

cmd enter to post

What does your Movie DNA look like?

Rate a few films you've seen. We map your taste across the same twelve axes and find the films you'll actually want to watch tonight.

Calibrate yourself