I can recognize when a documentary is well made, while still not loving a lot of common elements of documentary film making. That is certainly the case here, as the duo behind Free Solo do an excellent job bringing this crazy true story to life, while having to lean on reenactments and some overly dramatic interview segments to keep the drama level up. That doesn't mean it isn't effective, as the film lands plenty of powerful/poignant moments, but in most cases the story itself is doing the heavy lifting and the visuals are just sort of there as window dressing. That is to say, reading a Wikipedia summary could easily be just as powerful to me. And that's one of the other problems I often have with documentaries (especially ones that explore an event that isn't even that old): I already know most of the story. It would seem that my aversion to spoilers does not discriminate between fiction and non-fiction. I like to be surprised by a film, and that unfortunately doesn't happen much in cases such as this.
Shout by SkinnyFilmBuffVIP 8BlockedParent2022-08-20T20:03:27Z
I can recognize when a documentary is well made, while still not loving a lot of common elements of documentary film making. That is certainly the case here, as the duo behind Free Solo do an excellent job bringing this crazy true story to life, while having to lean on reenactments and some overly dramatic interview segments to keep the drama level up. That doesn't mean it isn't effective, as the film lands plenty of powerful/poignant moments, but in most cases the story itself is doing the heavy lifting and the visuals are just sort of there as window dressing. That is to say, reading a Wikipedia summary could easily be just as powerful to me. And that's one of the other problems I often have with documentaries (especially ones that explore an event that isn't even that old): I already know most of the story. It would seem that my aversion to spoilers does not discriminate between fiction and non-fiction. I like to be surprised by a film, and that unfortunately doesn't happen much in cases such as this.