The Walk (2015)

Saw The Walk (2015), a film about a daring high-wire walk between the twin towers shortly before their construction was complete.  This is a story about the incomprehensible beauty and whimsy of spectacular public art like this.  The protagonist, the mastermind behind the walk itself, is demanding and exacting, coming off as a kind of narcissist in his pursuit of this absurd and dangerous event.

The film does not explicitly mention 9/11, but the connection goes without saying.  This is an unwelcomed intrusion of whimsey into a place of business and industry, at the birth of the towers.  The juxtaposition of the terror at the end of them brings an unstated poignance to the act and to the film.  I wonder, as the world moves steady on and on, if that fading poignance will remain in the film.

This film was also shot in 3D.  This choice makes sense for the climactic wire-walk, but on a 2D screen, it seems a little silly.  There's a lot of things poking out at the screen, lots of foreground/background business going on that would have been novel in 2015 (I guess) but which come off as sort of distracting and cheesy now (and in 2D no less!)  The film has a clean and sort of "rendered" look to it, full of saturated colors and sunny skies.  It reminded me of the kind of dark gaudiness of Tim Burton's films.

The film was alright however and plays as a sort of heist film, full of set-backs and sudden lucky breaks.  The actual wire-walk which this heist is in aid of however is more interesting to me in the abstract than in reality which made the film fall a hair flat (for me.)  I felt like the protagonist was very self-involved and somewhat arrogant.  I think I understand the fun of the event, but like the protagonist refers to the wire-walk as a "coup" and berates and harangues other people for not being committed enough.  This kind of dedication to vision and drive are qualities which are very likely necessary to pull off this kind of spectacle, but as a person he seems like someone who's quite a bit too much.

I had previously seen Man on Wire, a 2008 documentary about the same event, and it fell similarly flat for me.  It got great ratings however, so I assume that this is just working on a wavelength I am deaf to.  I guess I am too old to really enjoy whimsey anymore.