Life, death and folktales converge in Sarah Adina Smith’s dreamy mystery, The Midnight Swim. Water conservationist Dr. Amelia Brooks (Beth Grant) is presumed dead when she fails to resurface after a deep-water dive in Spirit Lake, a body of water so deep that the bottom has never been reached. Her daughters Annie, Isa and June (Jennifer Lafleur, Aleksa Palladino and Lindsay Burdge respectively) return to their mother's lake town home to mourn and settle her affairs. Reunited with their childhood neighbor Josh (Ross Partridge), the women reminisce over dinner and recall a Spirit Lake folktale their mother loved to tell called "The Seven Sisters" in which seven siblings all disappear in the lake, one by one, while trying to rescue each other from drowning. The group drunkenly ventures down to the lake at midnight to recite an incantation to summon the Seventh Sister. From that point on, their attempts at healing are interrupted by strange occurrences and June's increasingly erratic behavior.

This supernatural setup does not encapsulate the originality of The Midnight Swim as the story flows further away to a deeper, more profound place. Shot documentary-style, the film is shown through the ethereal lens of June who is lovingly referred to as the family archivist. Whenever she appears in front of her camera, Lindsay Burdge successfully conveys an inner struggle that subtly escalates over the course of the film. Sarah Adina Smith’s decision to place the camera in the hands of the most unstable of the characters is fresh and adds a complex psychological layer to the imagery. The film further separates itself from the found footage genre through the use of incredibly atmospheric and ambient sound design.

Its dreamy look is accomplished through a blend of Shaheen Seth’s painterly cinematography and the director’s visual editing style. Much of the dialogue is heard off-screen, Smith consistently choosing to put the image first. The disconnect between image and dialogue gives the film an out of time feel more akin to someone narrating their own hypnotic vision. Lafleur, Palladino and Burdge exhibit astonishing chemistry truly capturing the painful daze of sisters struggling to cope with unimaginable loss. Convincing performances and a contemplative script heavy on themes of reincarnation and spirituality keep this beautiful fairy tale mystery engaging until its unpredictable conclusion. The Midnight Swim is a thought provoking spiritual voyage into the depths of the soul and resembles nothing short of a dream captured on camera.