A celebration of athleticism, architecture, random beauty and crazy ambition.
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07/26/08
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Man on Wire (2008)
100 %
Reviews Counted: 35 Fresh: 35 Rotten:0 Average Rating: 8.1/10
Consensus:
James Marsh's doc about artist Phililppe Petit's artful caper brings you every ounce of suspense that can be wrung from a man on a (suspended) wire.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating]
Runtime: 90 mins
Theatrical Release: Jul 25, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: August 7, 1974--A young Frenchman named Philippe Petit steps out on a wire suspended 1,350 feet above ground between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. He dances on the wire with no safety net for almost an hour, crossing it eight times before he is arrested for what becomes known as “the... [More]
Genre: Education/General Interest
Reviews
Properly promoted -- this festival fave will have crossover crowds on the edges of their seats, as well.
07/25/08
Director James Marsh's hypnotic movie documents French wire walker Philippe Petit's unauthorized, 45-minute balancing act 110 stories above New York in August 1974.
07/25/08
Top Critic
[An] engrossing and exhilarating documentary Man on Wire, which uses vintage footage, interviews and re-creations.
07/25/08
Top Critic
The film runs 95 minutes, and you'll be holding your breath for most of them.
07/25/08
Top Critic
Sits alongside "The Thin Blue Line" and "Hoop Dreams" as a non-fictional narrative which changes the rules of its genre.
07/25/08
One of the best things about Man on Wire is how little it tries to decipher Petit's actions, even with the copious amount of time it spends interviewing him and his accomplices
07/24/08
The resolution may not surprise, but the journey surely will, resulting in a magnificent, often breathtaking document of a man who desired a moment to touch the heavens. Literally.
07/24/08
A compelling and subtle documentary about Philippe Petit's sensational walk on a wire between the World Trade Center Twin Towers in 1974 and the missteps he made on earth afterwards.
07/24/08
[A] breathtaking documentary about that mad-genius coup achieved over three decades ago.
07/24/08
Top Critic
What ultimately reverberates is [the film's] potent central association between Petit's endeavor and the Twin Towers' erection.
07/24/08
Armed with the standard operating tools of documentary filmmaking, James Marsh leads audiences through Petit & Co.’s preparation and execution of this incredible feat of performance art.
07/24/08
As the film traces how he plotted his Word Trade Center walk, it starts to feel almost like a heist movie, as Mr. Petit and his cronies map out each minute detail over the course of month.
07/23/08
Top Critic
Marsh’s film may not probe very deeply into Petit’s character, or try to conjecture what his accomplishment means in a post-9/11 environment, but it does make for a wonderful caper, which is exactly how Petit envisioned it.
07/23/08
Builds a remarkable degree of suspense...and along the way it manages a good deal of humor and charm as well.
07/23/08
Part caper movie, part real-life superhero saga, and entirely engrossing.
07/23/08
Top Critic
An exhilarating film for the ages not to be missed, either for its enlightening peek inside the elite mind of an extraordinary individual or for its ethereal tribute to the Twin Towers.
07/22/08
Man on Wire becomes a thrilling study in contrast, succeeding not only at extolling Philippe's superhuman performance but attesting to the achievements of those who similarly defied death to give the man the stage he walked on.
07/21/08
Related Forums
(2008/Rated PG-13/Docu)-James Marsh's MAN ON WIRE opens on Friday, July 25th in NYC!!
by: ReelReviewer.com 7/25
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(2008/Docu)-MAN ON WIRE gets a Tribeca preem before opening Nationally in August!!!
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