[dave_c]

Saw this last night and thought it was pretty good.  Very non linear story telling but it was easy to follow and a pretty neat story.  Have to admit that the guy is amazing.  I would certainly pay to see it done.

[burn_unit]

This is a horror film (normality is threatened by the monster,) both because of the vertiginous aspect but also due to the manner in which the subject treats his colleagues. Major parts of the film are given over to the broken relationships and how they got that way.

However, a great caper film.

[JRace]

This is a horror film (normality is threatened by the monster,) both because of the vertiginous aspect but also due to the manner in which the subject treats his colleagues. Major parts of the film are given over to the broken relationships and how they got that way.

However, a great caper film.

HUH?

an incredible tale of French wire walker Philippe Petit, who commandeered the twin towers as the stage for an illegal caper of creative expression -- a daring performance of high-wire artistry that included eight crossings between the towers, 110 stories above New York City in 1974.

-From www.filmthreat.com

[jonwb]

Wow, I didn't expect to see this film discussed here on AC.  I actually just watched it last week. 

Pretty interesting i thought.  I just barely recall the actual event getting TV coverage when I was just a boy.  I can't believe they actually pulled it off.  Just the act of rigging as much as anything.  There were some many places where things could have gone wrong (not to mentioned the dude falling to his death!).  The movie bounced around a bit, but once you figured out what the film makers were doing, it was no biggie.  The guy must've done alright as a street magician (or whatever he did) to be able to afford all those trips to NY! I didn't care too much about the relationship end of things, but I guess the thing that really brought them together was this challenge, and once that was conquered they didn't have much to keep them "together".

I also appreciated all the footage of the Twin Towers.  They were quite a piece of elegant architecture and I still can't believe they are gone... 

[burn_unit]

As I said the film spends a good deal of screen time focusing on the broken relationships the highwire walker engendered amongst his closest friends by his behavior. So while he looks like a harmless prankster and magician, I am suggesting his narcissistic drive - which is what propels his repeated, wonderful, illegal performances - comes close to being that of a kind of monster. Docs are about character, too, just like fiction films.

Also, the film gives a few views over the edge of the WTC - clearly horrifying. ("Vertiginous.")

[dado5]

The guy must've done alright as a street magician (or whatever he did) to be able to afford all those trips to NY!

I got the impression that he was funded right from the get go, much like The Who was in its early career. Otherwise how do you explain all the high quality footage of him and his gang planning and practicing in France? Someone was backing him and recording all his efforts, no doubt to cash in when the time was right.

I loved the whole 'caper' aspect of the movie - Oceans Eleven or the Italian Job but with a payoff that everyone really got to enjoy.

[burn_unit]

While the film makes a deal out of his performing at a wire company in order to get free cabling (no, not that kind,) and mentions his street performing for money, the scenes of that estate in France suggest to me he's a trust fund baby.

Again, I agree it's a good caper film. Just that he's a kind of monster among his other qualities.

[dave_c]

I had a lot of fun watching it but I just wish there was more video footage up on the wire between the towers.  I believe his motivations go beyond what he lets on.  Once he got famous it seems he lost many of his friends and cohorts.  Still a good flick if not for the high wire footage alone.