SKYWALKERS: A LOVE STORY

Skywalkers: A Love Story is a documentary that will make your palms sweat thanks to its stunning cinematography and extreme sport focus, while the real life love story at its core is one beautiful hook that balances out the nerve wracking adrenaline that will be coursing through viewers until the credits begin to roll.

Rooftopping may not be the most widely known sport, nor do I know I would have personally classified it as one either given its daredevil nature prior to this film, but this documentary has left me with a new appreciation for the sport. Skywalkers: A Love Story premiered at this year’s edition of the Sundance Film Festival, and while I missed the film there, it is now releasing worldwide on Netflix so everyone has the opportunity to see this excellent documentary. While it seems like the sport is all about breaking in and scaling tall buildings for social media attention, there can be an art to rooftopping. And that is what Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus do for the sport with their unbelievable athleticism and acrobatic abilities that they display at the top of the structures they have spent hours scaling. It’s impressive enough to have the coordination and ability to synchronize the way they do on solid ground, but when Nikolau and Beerkus perform such feats on top of buildings with no safety measures, on small and sometimes unstable platforms, with the wind working against them, and where the slightest slip up would result in their immediate death, it becomes an amazing display of talent to watch that words cannot describe. For the uninitiated, the documentary does introduce the sport as a whole and touches on the deadly consequences of the sport for those who make a mistake told from the perspective of Nikolau and Beerkus, preventing it from feeling like an educational video. It allows the narrative to play out as a slice of life narrative as you follow Nikolau and Beerkus over the course of their career to date and as they prepare to scale the Merdeka 118 skyscraper in Malaysia.

The documentary itself is comprised of footage captured of Nikolau and Beerkus’ rooftopping, and the result is truly breathtaking in the most unsettling way imaginable. Captured by drones with the utmost clarity, the audience is transported to the top of these buildings alongside Nikolau and Beerkus. With every frame, you can get a true sense of distance to the ground as the camera captures the incredible heights that they are performing at, which is more than enough to get your heart pounding as you hold your breath in fear that the worst should happen. Seriously, this is one of the most nerve wracking documentaries you will watch this year because your mind can’t help but to think of how horribly wrong the rooftopping can end up. I kid you not, I was sweating while watching this one from the comfort of my couch on solid ground!

As much as you will find yourself stressed out watching this documentary, it is the real life relationship of Nikolau and Beerkus that emotionally hooks the audience in their story and complements the risk of the sport. Watching these two individuals first bond as athletes, learning how to trust each other while performing these death defying stunts allows the audience to get a sense of both Nikolau and Beerkus as individuals. Though, as the documentary progresses, you see this trust morph into something far more powerful and watch the strain of their feelings for each and the effect it takes on their professional relationship and personal ambitions. It adds an additional level of stakes to your viewing experience, because not only do you find yourself watching to see if they will be able to pull off the incredibly challenging scaling of the Merdeka 118 skyscraper, but also to see if they can overcome their personal challenges and be the romantic pairing that the audience wants them to become.

While it is evident from this documentary that rooftopping is not something that you should be trying at home, there is no question that Skywalkers: A Love Story has left me with a newfound appreciation for the sport. Not only is the level of precise skill and expertise on display unparalleled, the relationship that blossoms in front of your eyes between Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus is a wonderful tale of love and trust that will make your heart soar… nearly as high as the buildings they are scaling. With the dazzling cinematography that captures Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus’ rooftopping in real time, never for a second letting the audience forget how high up these two are and the unbelievable risk associated with their displays of athleticism, Skywalkers: A Love Story immediately is an unforgettable documentary that delivers both an unforgettable rush of adrenaline thanks to the death defying sport and a tender love story.