{"id":6304,"date":"2024-10-19T23:04:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T03:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6304"},"modified":"2024-10-19T23:04:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-20T03:04:32","slug":"free-solo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/19\/free-solo\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Solo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Free Solo<\/strong> (2018)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 National Geographic\/Documentary\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 100 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (brief strong language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Marco Beltrami\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jimmy Chin, Matt Clegg, Clair Popkin and Mikey Schaefer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 12, 2018 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Alex Honnold, Tommy Caldwell, Jimmy Chin, Sanni McCandless.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I put off seeing the documentary Free Solo<\/strong> for as long as I could. Blame it on my fear of heights. Movies about mountain climbing and other high-up activities give me vertigo. You should have seen me during the climax of The Walk a few years back. Seeing it in 3D is probably the bravest thing I\u2019ve done in years. I still get dizzy thinking about it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0This is why I made Free Solo<\/strong> a low-priority film over the months it\u2019s played at the Ritz Bourse here in Philadelphia. This past weekend, I finally gave in and saw it. I had room on my schedule and it was the only other movie I hadn\u2019t seen yet (I\u2019ll wait to watch Roma on Netflix next week). I have to admit, it\u2019s pretty good. Not only that, it didn\u2019t freak me out as badly as I thought it would. At least not until the final 15 minutes when all I could think was \u201cGet down from there before you fall!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Free Solo<\/strong> is a mostly gripping piece about Alex Honnold, an aficionado of \u201cfree soloing\u201d which entails climbing a mountain with no equipment and no assistance from other people. All he has is his hands, feet and skill. The movie follows Alex in his quest to conquer El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. It\u2019s his white whale. Nobody has ever successfully ascended \u201cEl Cap\u201d this way. It\u2019s an extremely difficult climb even with all the equipment. It\u2019s going to take a lot of training and nerve to accomplish this feat, but Alex is determined not to let anything stop him. Sure, he has a few setbacks. He sustains a foot fracture while practicing. A close friend dies during a climb. He temporarily loses his nerve. In the end, Alex sets out for the top while a crew films him. It\u2019s a tense four hours compressed into an intense 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One of the most interesting things about Free Solo<\/strong> is how it shows the philosophical challenge faced by Alex. He claims not to be doing it for the glory yet he\u2019s allowing a crew to film the whole thing which, believe me, isn\u2019t easy. They put their lives at risk too. It isn\u2019t easy aiming a camera while hanging from the face of a rock. But I digress. Alex is all about the existential thrill of climbing so the idea of filming it puts him in a philosophical quandary.<\/p>\n

\u00a0We get to know Alex quite well. The movie delves into his background. We learn of a childhood marked by parents who didn\u2019t show their children affection. Alex had to learn how to hug in his 20s. It\u2019s also implied that Alex might be on the autism spectrum, something he probably inherited from his father. We watch as Alex navigates his way through his first serious relationship with girlfriend Sanni McCandless who frequently expresses concern over his safety. She struggles with the possibility that this climb could be his last.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The cinematography is an absolute highlight. Directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi provide vistas that are truly breathtaking. Not only that, they perfectly capture the danger and thrill of free soloing. Free Solo<\/strong> is awesome to look at. I\u2019d like to say it\u2019s an experience, but it doesn\u2019t quite reach that level. I wasn\u2019t gripping my seat nearly as tightly as I did at The Walk. I also didn\u2019t blurt out the f-word a few times like I did at The Walk. It\u2019s still pretty intense though as I did get dizzy more than once.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I don\u2019t really have a whole lot to say about Free Solo<\/strong>. I know nothing about climbing except that I would never do it. I kept thinking \u201cYou\u2019ll never get me up there! No way!\u201d I did want to know how the climber gets back down the mountain after he reaches the top of the mountain. The movie does not show this. Thankfully, the guy sitting across the aisle answered my question. For the most part, Free Solo<\/strong> is a good movie. It\u2019s interesting and thrilling. Alex is a likable guy. He\u2019s not cocky or arrogant. He seems to genuinely enjoy what he does. You can\u2019t fault a guy for that. Like its subject, Free Solo<\/strong> is a likable documentary. I think even non-fans will find something to enjoy.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Free Solo (2018)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 National Geographic\/Documentary\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 100 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (brief strong language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Marco Beltrami\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jimmy Chin, Matt Clegg, Clair Popkin and Mikey Schaefer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 12, 2018 (Philadelphia, PA)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Alex Honnold, Tommy Caldwell, Jimmy Chin, Sanni McCandless. Rating: *** \u00a0I put off seeing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-documentary"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Free-Solo-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6304"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6431,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6304\/revisions\/6431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}