Hacker Cinema
Man on Wire
2008 · Film · documentary · 94 min
Directed by James Marsh
On August 7th 1974, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit stepped out on a high wire, illegally rigged between New York's World Trade Center twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour of performing on the wire, 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan, he was arrested. This fun and spellbinding documentary chronicles Philippe Petit's "highest" achievement.
16 positive2 neutralfrom 18 commenters
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19 comments on Hacker News
1. Bill Cunningham New York
2. General Magic(2018)
3. The Armstrong Lie
4. Icarus (2017 film)
5. Man on Wire
6. Baraka & Samsara
7. BBC Planet Earth
8. Finding Vivian Maier
Highly recommended... I found it quite beautiful and moving, and it's the only film I've felt compelled to write a blog post[1] about. "Seeing the film (made just last year) transforms the memory of the Towers from one of trauma to something more like transcendence."
[1] https://johnj.com/posts/man-on-wire/ [2009]
Edit: add year
People who like this might enjoy the amazing film Man On Wire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_on_Wire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIawNRm9NWM
Obligatory Man On Wire reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_on_Wire
Incredible and unusual documentary, not too much vertigo. It's essentially like a bank heist movie.
Here is the list from the thread: --- 1. A Man Named Pearl
2. Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland
3. Microcosmos
4. Crip Camp!
5. Keep The River On Your Right
6. All The Beauty And The Bloodshed
7. Harlan County USA
8. Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story
9. Good Night Oppy
10. We Met in Virtual Reality
11. All That Breathes
12. Still
13. Can’t Be Stopped
14. The Amazing Jonathan Documentary
15. Searching for Sugarman
16. AKA Mr Chow
17. The Pigeon Tunnel
18. Little Richard: I Am Everything
19. I Know That Voice
20. Genghis Blues
21. Kings of Pastry
22. 20 Feet From Stardom
23. Stevie
24. Anvil: the Story of Anvil
25. Searching for Sugar Man
26. King of Kong
27. The Gleaners and I
28. Touching the Void
29. Cane Toads: An Unnatural History
30. 20 Days in Mariupol
31. Minding the Gap
32. How to Survive a Plague
33. Speciesism
34. Free Solo
35. Jim Allison: Breakthrough
36. Seven Up! series
37. Bowling for Columbine
38. The Fog of War
39. Rivers and Tides
40. Capturing the Friedmans
41. Spellbound
42. King of Kong
43. Crip Camp
44. Jesus Camp
45. Jiro Dreams of Sushi
46. Flee
47. Man on Wire
48. Queen of Versailles
49. The Thin Blue Line
50. Time Indefinite
51. The Gleaners and I
52. My Life as a Turkey
53. Happy People
54. Grizzly Man
“Streetwise” by Martin Bell follows the lives of a few homeless youths on the streets of Seattle in the 80s (I think it was the 80s, at least). I heard about it via a song by The Avalanches that sampled part of the film. Just pretty interesting to see how some people’s lives are. I also think it’s interesting to get a raw look at how people talked, behaved, dressed, etc in the past.
Also enjoyed “Man on Wire”. First saw it when I was in high school and just remembered feeling really inspired by it. To have a goal and overcome the odds to try and achieve it, etc.
It’s strange. I can definitely give you a list of books that made me see the world differently, but I find it much harder to come up with a list of films, even though I tend to enjoy the medium more. Broadly speaking, I keep reflecting on scenes from Tarkovsky, Kurosawa, and Miyazaki films more than any others, even though they’re not necessarily my favorite films. I would recommend Stalker, Dreams, and Mononoke.
There’s also Man on Wire, for both the sheer joy of impossible achievement that it evokes, as well as the beautiful minimalist soundtrack. On reflection, maybe that’s one of the few films I’ve seen that had a different person leaving the theater. The mood of that film is imprinted in my personality.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Man on Wire
Both redefined for me what it means to be mission oriented and committed. And I have a Guinness Record, so I thought I was obsessive already, but I’m nothing compared to the commitment of the two men in these documentaries.
Great question!
Patricio Guzman: La batalla de chile, Nostalgia de la luz, El boton de nacar (i.e. everything I've seen so far)
Bob Connolly & Robin Anderson - First Contact, Joe Leahy's Neighbours, Black Harvest (Trilogy about a half-white, half-native New Guinean farmer)
Werner Herzog - (apart from those already mentioned) Lessons of Darkness, Les Blank's Burden of Dreams
Everything by Scott Noble - watch on metanoia-films.org/
Bus 174, Harlan Country USA, How To Start A Revolution, Silenced (2014), War on Whistleblowers, The Century of the Self
Man with a Movie Camera, Man on Wire, Dark Days, Kumaré, Dear Zachary, Children Full of Life (2003)
Wow. I'm a bog Doc fan. I'll list a few of my favs:
Touch the Sound. For me this was life changing. The story of a deaf percussionist. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424509/
Man on Wire. Also life changing. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1155592/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Winnebago Man. Fascinating!You've probably seen his vids on youtube. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396557/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Anvil: The Story of Anvil. I worked in the music scene in the 80s and heard of these guys, and always wondered what happened. This film answers that question. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1157605/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4
My Architect. A sons journey learning about his dad, through his dad's architecture. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373175/
Here's my list of 10/10 documentaries:
Biopics and Portraits:
- Kung Fu Elliot (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3228302/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Listen to Me Marlon (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4145178/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Man on Wire (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1155592/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- My Winnipeg (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093842/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- A Gray State (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6794380/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1683876/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Valley Uprising (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3784160/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- You've Been Trumped (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1943873/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Environmental:
- Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3302820/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Cove (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1313104/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Chasing Coral (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6333054/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Virunga (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3455224/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Crime:
- Cartel Land (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4126304/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Act of Killing (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Culture High (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1778338/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4299972/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- West of Memphis (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2130321/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- How to Make Money Selling Drugs (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1276962/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Fear of 13 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5083702/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Brother's Keeper (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103888/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution' (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446610/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Reflecting on Life and Death:
- Given (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4890452/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Extremis (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5538078/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Touching the Void (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379557/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Attention: A Life in Extremes (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2846628/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Society:
- Israel vs Israel (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1753960/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Inside Job (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1645089/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Overnighters (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3263996/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
All documentaries by: Scott Noble (available free at his site http://metanoia-films.org/), Patricio Guzman, Werner Herzog, Adam Curtis, The Yes Men.
Other great documentaries: Man with a Movie Camera, Sherman's March, Burden of Dreams, Bus 174, My Winnipeg, How to Start a Revolution, Merchants of Doubt, Silenced (2014), the Corporation (2003), Man on Wire, The Parking Lot Movie, Land of Look Behind, Intangible Asset No. 82, Brasileirinho, Jodorowsky's Dune, Revolution OS, Facebookistan, The King of Kong, Kumaré, McLibel, Harlan County USA
Why? Because they're amazing, important, will change your life etc. Sorry I don't have hours to go into detail. Enjoy!
ps I found a lot of these by googling best documentaries lists, IMDb lists etc. I judge whether to watch movies/docos by reading 2 or 3 pages of user reviews on IMDb, occasionally Ebert or Urban Cinefile etc also.
The closest analog I can think of is Phillipe Petit's tightrope walk across the twin towers. Petit has similarly said that:
“I am not a death-wish person,” he said to me. “I want to live very old. It is true that death is part of the frame—that it frames such activities as bullfighting and tightrope walking. My world is a dangerous world, sure, but I am very safe in knowing my limits. I am not playing with words when I say I don’t take risks. The danger becomes so narrow that it is a novel companion with whom you travel. It is not an enemy.”
I know this isn't an answer, but if you've never seen the documentary about Petit, "Man on Wire", perhaps it would help to understand the mindset.
That doesn't really work does it? That's like saying why would Hollywood make the dramatization of Man on Wire when there was already an effective documentary? Furthermore, why remake an existing drama when there is already and effective previous version?
They're trying to get eyeballs to the NYT and not Youtube or anywhere else. They control that media now, they can re-use it later or do whatever they want with it.
Man on Wire (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1155592/)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587707/)
The King of Kong (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/)
I would rank it among a typical Gary Hustwit movie but it did become repetitive at times. Obviously not as thrilling as Man on Wire but when it comes to documentaries about devoting every waking minute to your passion, it's a top pick.
I've recently enjoyed several episodes of the Vanguard series. There are full episodes of the first 3 seasons available on YouTube:
http://current.com/shows/vanguard/
http://www.youtube.com/show?p=8NtSYAZY9Y8&s=3
On a similar note, The Vice Guide to Travel:
http://www.vbs.tv/watch/the-vice-guide-to-travel
Adam Curtis is the creator of various interesting pieces. Some of his documentaries are mentioned in this thread:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Curtis
I've also enjoyed many of Werner Herzog's films.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Herzog#Filmography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encounters_at_the_End_of_the_World
The Yes Men are quite entertaining.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yes_Men_Fix_the_World
http://theyesmenfixtheworld.com/
Man on Wire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_on_Wire
Cocaine Cowboys.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine_cowboys
Man on Wire. This movie pumps me up like no other.
I liked the King of Kong: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/.
Man on Wire is on my list of movies to watch: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1155592/