X
- 2008
- PG-13
- 1 h 34 m
- 2008
- PG-13
- 1 h 34 m
Summary On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York's twin towers, then the world’s tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. Following six and a half y...
Directed By: James Marsh
Written By: Philippe Petit
- 2008
- PG-13
- 1 h 34 m
- 2008
- PG-13
- 1 h 34 m
Man on Wire
8.2
Where to Watch
Summary On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York's twin towers, then the world’s tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. Following six and a half y...
Directed By: James Marsh
Written By: Philippe Petit
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 31 Critic Reviews
89
100% Positive
31 Reviews
31 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 31 Critic Reviews
89
100% Positive
31 Reviews
31 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The sight is magical and heartbreaking in equal measure. Look, the movie says: Where so many would fall, a man walks on air.
James Marsh's documentary raises the bar for the genre to skyscraper height.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 98 User Ratings
8.2
88% Positive
86 Ratings
86 Ratings
10% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
2% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 98 User Ratings
8.2
88% Positive
86 Ratings
86 Ratings
10% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
2% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
This documentary about the amazing process in how a very compelling man managed to tight rope walk from one World Trade Center building to the other decades after the event is my favorite documentary of the entire decade from 2000 to 2009. The whole sequence of events is fascinating, and every character, not just the main one, is interesting to watch. A must see.
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It's about a man's pursuit of his dream to walk on a tight rope between the World Trade Center towers. The story and characters are compelling enough on their own. But Marsh matches visuals to music in a way that makes this story more a work of art than a retelling. This movie owned me the first time I saw it. And I watch it again from time to time to remind myself how to dream.
Report
Takes on the air of a heist film as the preparations proceed, and even knowing the outcome, tension still remains.
Wallenda once said, "Life is being on the wire; everything else is just waiting." This film makes that motto ring true.
The film runs 95 minutes, and you'll be holding your breath for most of them.
The most miraculous thing about Man on Wire is not the physical feat itself, 1,350 feet above the ground, but that as you watch it, the era gone, the World Trade Center gone, the movie feels as if it's in the present tense. That nutty existentialist acrobat pulled it off. For an instant, he froze time.
It's a story worth telling, yes--but after 90 minutes, it's hard not to wonder if the storyteller can talk about anything else.
'Man On Wire' is and interesting story about an interesting man who is doing interesting stuff. I watched the documentry on the television and was pulled in to the film and actually couldn't turn the television off, I kind of couldn't walk over to the remote, I was just so concentrated, I was just staring at the television. A epic in documentry history.
Report
Visual, inspiring, creative, and filled with so many surprises, Man on Wire doesn't mean it's just a documentary. It had amazing results from the start to the end. You'll love it.
Report
This remarkable tale of one man's undying determination to realise his dream is uplifting but not inspiring. The anecdotes are hilarious and the emotional investment of his team is stirring. Unfortunately, however, the inspirational sentiment that the story attempts to achieve is let down by Philippe. He is driven by arrogance over bravery and achieves his goal through luck over skill.
Report
I am not an expert in evaluating documentaries (or anything else, I do not consider myself an authority on any particular subject), but I confess that I did not feel particularly excited about this documentary. For an Oscar-winning documentary, I think something was missing.
To begin with, the topic is quite alien to me. I am not a fan of acrobats, and I hate the circus and almost everything related since I was a child. I don't know why, it's something that I always carried with me. Furthermore, I liked the way Philippe Petit pursued his dream, but that's it. As a person, Petit seemed repugnant: an unreasonable man, who does not listen to anyone when making a decision, an artist driven by his own desire for self-assertion, with an overly dominant and self-centered personality. In the documentary, his wife says a phrase that, for me, sums up Philippe Petit's personality and way of being: "We became inseparable and, in his life, I completely forgot mine, and he didn't even care about realize if I had my destiny to follow. It was evident that I had to follow his." I rest my case.
The documentary addresses the topic correctly and is technically well done, it makes everything clear to those who are watching. However, it starts from an incorrect premise: that the public knows in advance what Philippe Petit did in the towers of the World Trade Center. The American public, perhaps, and fans of funambulism will surely know this acrobat quite well... but I, like most people in Europe, no longer even remember the World Trade Center for any reason other than the tragic way how it ceased to exist.
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Production Company
Discovery Films,
BBC Storyville,
UK Film Council,
Wall to Wall,
Red Box Films
Release Date Jul 25, 2008
Duration 1 h 34 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline 1974. 1,350 feet up. The artistic crime of the century.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US
• 3 Wins & 5 Nominations
Sundance Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
