In a risky attempt to save both their career and relationship, a couple travels around the world to the 118 story meridian skyscraper, Merdeka 118, to perform a radical ski-like stunt on its spire. The couple does this out of desperation.
We have crossed over to an era in the history of the cinema where documentary films can be regarded as a source of scripted reality television. At least that is the impression one gets from Skywalkers: A Love Story, so much so that one feels that most images other than those of the sky scrapers were staged during shooting. This was a pervasive sense that I could not get over as the footage continued to record random clips of the characters moving about places like the airport, a park or daydreaming at a window.
As the audience member shares in the Netflix Documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story, all the attention is on the flyer and never the catcher. In this formula, directors Jeff Zimbalist and Maria Bukovina would like us to focus on the carefully stylized lyrical beauty of their death defying stunts. However, the overly dramatic and overstated supporting events in between, makes the drama by the catcher rather contrived and far more inauthentic than one would like.
For example, the two subjects of the documentary, Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, often shoot themselves in the process of construction workers or security personnel hiding from a confined building. So even though they are hiding, they are filming and recording with bright lights on the cameras while they are told people are within a few feet of them. It is impossible that people would not see these bright lights that have no business being there anyway.
Also, there are some sections where they seem to have lost their way as they escape through staircases, which is quite confusing in regard to their whereabouts in the first place. This lack of context, however, does little if anything at all to enhance the understanding the audience has of the development as well as the building of trust that is absolutely necessary for sheer suspense to be created. In scenes designed to promote some thrill, the directors are quick to help us by making sure that the stars inform us what they are going to do before doing it, which is quite irritating as it reduces the suspense factor as well.
Even in the more intimate scenes such as the one where they talk about their relationship issues and when one of them argues with another while performing an aerial acrobatic stunt, the whole thing feels staged. Let’s, the viewers, not only accompany them, but also enjoy the ride, instead of feeling that we are in a read-through and watching the script being recited.
That being said, however, there are some times when the Skywalkers: A Love Story shines, and some actually stand out as being really beautiful. The cinematography work is quite astonishingly amazing as it is and the potential DOPs Renato Serrano, Pablo Rojas, Berkus and Nikolaou should get much of the appreciation for this. It could have been the best from a documentary since the Academy award winning Free Solo.
There will surely be some critics who disapprove of what the filmmakers do when they rely on Zimbalist’s reality television treatment of a script glorifying illegal and very reckless behavior. While I do not have such a huge problem with this, the film doesn’t have a warning or disclaimer. Also, and probably my number one complaint, the documentary fails to explain convincingly almost anything, except those that are quite basic, as to why the stunts were performed.
However, the sensationalism and carry through any ‘good’ social media building content that Nikolaou and Berkus seem to produce on a daily basis for Jeff Zimbalist and Maria Bukovina’s film.
That is not to suggest that Skywalkers: A Love Story may not be worth your time because at least the film is entertaining. But, considering the filmmakers’ higher expectations, you would probably not be eager to recommend it. It is funny, the romance in the film pours itself dry as well as any romance in movies ever made. Predictably by the end of the second act, the couple’s many conflicts are resolved and they can return to their ambitions.
Unfortunately, some documentaries have been transformed into reality dating shows. Nevertheless, we do know that movies adapt to the needs of time. We can however respect the artistry as well as the ambition behind Skywalkers: A Love Story, albeit with its many imperfections.
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