Skywalkers: A Love Story holds your interest in ways that more hyped up films can't. That's because director Jeff Zimbalist's look at two Russian rooftoppers (climbers who scale skyscrapers) contains more vertiginous footage than any film since 2008's Man on A Wire followed Philippe Petit's World Trade Center tightrope walk. Zimbalist focuses on Angela Nikolau and Ivan "Beerkus' Kuznetsov, two climbers who practice what she (and subsequently he) refer to as artistic expression. The story builds toward an attempt to scale Merdeka in Malaysia, which -- at the time of the filming -- was the world's tallest building, 118 floors rising 2,227 feet into the sky. (The title now belongs to Dubai's Burji Khalifa, which is 2,717 feet tall.) Every climb presents a variety of technical challenges that must be met while prepping, which also includes plans to avoid detection by law enforcement. For good reasons, rooftopping remains illegal. Nikoklau grew up with circus performers for parents; Kuznetsov began his climbing career with other boys but rooftopping soon became an irresistible full-time passion. Nikolau and Kuzentsov complement each other's skills but the partnership is threatened when Nikolau insists on climbing despite an injury. Zimbalist makes no effort to present a counter-argument; no one argues against rooftopping, which -- if you stop to think about -- is a crazy, high-risk enterprise. Zimbalist explains how the pair finance their efforts -- sponsorships at first and then through the sale of NFTs. The film makes use of GoPro cameras (operated by the climbers) and drones to obtain its spectacular footage. I don't know quite how to think about rooftopping, but Skywalkers makes you look away from the screen in disbelief that anyone would attempt what these two have turned into their life's work. Skywalkers is available for screening on Netflix.
No comments:
Post a Comment