Skywalkers: A Love Story Review: Can You Take Me Higher?

Eons ago, a wise philosopher named Scott Stapp turned his head to the sky and cried out, “Can you take me higher?/To a place where the blind can see/Can you take me higher?/To a place with golden streets?” Whether he ever reached those heights is unknown. However, daredevil Russian climbers Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus chose a different, more active way to reach those beckoning skies. They have dedicated their lives to scaling impossibly tall skyscrapers without harnesses or safety nets. Imagine if the Free Solo The guy was also Ethan Hunt, who climbed the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. This is this romantic couple in love.

Rooftopping is Beerkus and Nikolau’s game, and it’s undoubtedly a dangerous business to dedicate your whole life to. But for the duo, who host the new Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story, the unthinkable is just normal reality. Nikolau, in particular, was destined to push boundaries and risk her safety. After all, she grew up in a circus family, and her bravura mother was her role model for how to live. But when she started the rooftopping business, she needed a mentor. And that’s where the experienced Beerkus came in.

Eventually, their dynamic turned into something more romantic. At the same time, their scaling of iconic, giant landmarks makes the duo celebrity sensations. Everyone loves the couple who smooch and defy fear of heights with equal ease. But in 2022, Beerkus and Nikolau’s finances are dwindling and their relationship is under tremendous pressure. It’s time for “one last job.” The Warisan Merdeka Tower in Malaysia (the second tallest building in the world) is calling their name. Their skills and love will soon be put to enormous challenges.

Directors Jeff Zimbalist and Maria Bukhonina rely heavily on Skywalker on pictures taken by Nikolau and Beerkus during their illegal ventures. Shaky bodycam footage of the duo running or casually climbing over cranes fills the screen. The more grandiose of these shots, namely those where drones are used to document the pair atop famous buildings, are breathtaking. However, the series of more shaky shots subtly underline the homemade nature of these viral stunts. These are not super spies with state-of-the-art gadgets. Our main characters use equipment from the hardware store to set climbing records! Unexpected surveillance cameras or construction workers have these two confused. They are not just constantly jumping over obstacles.

By using intimate shots from the heat of the moment, the human being becomes the focus of the Skywalkers: A Love StoryBest of all, bodycam footage captured miles above the ground is very effective at conveying the importance of these exercises. These muted visual reminders of Beerkus and Nikolaus’s ordinariness make the inevitable danger particularly tangible. Anyone with even the slightest fear of heights should be prepared to look away during such dangerous sequences. This vertiginous critic must have had to swallow out loud more than once!

Despite all the visual splendor of Skywalkerit’s particularly disappointing how much the proceedings rely on dialogue. Nikolau’s expository voiceover overwhelms the first 30 minutes of the film in particular. Her thoughtful perspective on growing up hammers in obvious details about her relationships or personality that are clear on screen. It’s challenging to immerse yourself in her world when those intrusive sound elements are in play. A late circus sequence falls apart because of this problem as well. Incredibly moving images unfold, depicting Nikolau’s return to the kind of place that fostered her lifelong passions. The images alone are heartbreaking. We also don’t need a commentary to explain why she’s crying in this setting.

The strong presence of voice-over narration makes Skywalkers: A Love Story torn between two types of modern documentary film. On the one hand, the relentless narrative that contextualizes everything is reminiscent of a classic “talking heads” approach. However, Zimbalist and Bukhonina clearly want a Lovestorylike current films and TV shows like Boys State And Ren Faireto function as a document that mimics the style of a feature film. The second half of the proceedings, which chronicles the preparations for scaling Merdeka, has editing and dialogue from a Ocean’s Eleven Part. Later in the film, Nikolau experiences “flashbacks” (complete with color tinting to set these images apart from the present) to her most memorable experiences with Beerkus. Even the structure of the romantic conflict is more reminiscent of a narrative three-act film than the chaotic reality documentaries that are often recorded.

The oscillation between these two forms of documentary film does not serve Skywalkers: A Love Story well. Instead, it makes the post feel as out of touch with reality as a heavily filtered Instagram post. It doesn’t help that the attempts to be “topical” are incredibly clumsily executed. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine (as well as Beerkus’ Ukrainian ancestry) dominates the screen for five minutes. The topic then disappears, never to reappear. Worse, NFTs prove crucial to the couple’s financial rescue. Such a straightforward, triumphant depiction of NFTs in 2024 could make Matt Damon proud. But it doesn’t make the main characters’ emotional or financial struggles particularly relatable.

Many people think of Netflix movies as things you leave on in the background while you do laundry or other household chores. They’re designed for fleeting aural pleasures, not sustained visual euphoria. Skywalkers: A Love Story is a slight deviation from this norm. It is best viewed with the mute button on! When you experience this documentary in silence, its beautiful images are particularly striking. However, if you dare to turn up the volume, the narrative and structural problems of Skywalker No wonder this creative endeavor never reaches the meditative heights of Scott Stapp’s longing to “go higher.”

Skywalkers: A Love Story is currently streaming on Netflix.

Skywalkers: A Love Story Trailer: