You have never seen anything like Skywalker: A Love Story.

If you’ve ever seen Free Solo or Man on Wire and suffer from a fear of heights, this week’s column is not for you.

On the other hand, last week was such a terrible week for rooftops that I think Skywalkers: A Love Story is practically a godsend.

I saw Jeff Zimbalist’s new film during the Nantucket Film Festival, where it was a central theme. To be honest, I shuddered when I saw the film poster image in the middle of the program:

Now that I live at sea level, I’m not sure if I still meet the clinical criteria for acrophobia, but I felt like I should watch Skywalker: A Love Story on the big screen while I had the chance.

Reader: My fear of heights immediately returned as I shifted in my seat, covering my eyes and twisting my sweaty palms. See for yourself:


I don’t know when or where my fear of heights started. I got my bachelor’s degree in the nation’s capital without ever stepping foot inside the Washington Monument. I also went to St. Louis for my graduate degree, but I never climbed the Gateway Arch either. Admittedly, climbing to the top of these national parks makes me claustrophobic too.

Zimbalist’s Skywalkers begin with “rooftopping,” a term I didn’t know until I saw the film. Apparently I’m too late, because this practice has been going on for years. In all cases, rooftoppers and skywalkers are considered Type T individuals: thrill seekers.

According to cultural geographer and Type-T personality Bradley Garrett, there are several reasons why people are drawn to climbing skyscrapers and dangling from cranes in the first place.

The three main motivators behind Type T behavior are recognition (often in the form of internet fame), political interest (often in the form of activism), and desire (often in the form of exploration). This was also news to me. I thought rooftoppers were suicidal.

As Garrett also notes, this combination of factors is known among sociologists as “edgework,” or the unnecessary placing of oneself in risky situations. Many of these scenarios involve death-defying stunts that go far beyond those we saw in The Fall Guy.

Of course, many roofers have died because of their thrill-seeking, but Zimbalist’s film focuses on two specific people who share a passion for acrobatic maneuvers at terrifying heights. The director also distills a subplot from the main plot: the love story between daredevils Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus.

The metaphor between skywalking and falling in love seems crazy to me, but it definitely makes for an intense cinematic experience. The drone photography alone is insane. The fact that you can watch it from the comfort of your own home on Netflix starting this Friday, well, I hope you watch it the way I do: without the pause button.