Film Review – Skywalkers: A Love Story (2024)

Before watching Skywalkers: A Love Story I had very little interest in the business of heights or building skyscrapers. I may not be looking to do such dangerous activities myself, but I have come closer to understanding it than I would have without watching this documentary. After premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, this is the latest documentary by the American filmmaker Jeffrey Zimbalist who co-directed this film with Maria Bukhonina. Part adventure, part romance, and part documentary, this film can cater to various audiences, some of whom may not know anything about the terrifying and exciting career that the protagonists have chosen for themselves.

The film follows Angela Nikolau and Vanya Beerkus, a couple who became known on social media for climbing to the height of the tallest skyscrapers in the world. Sounds dangerous? It is, and the documentary does not shy away from showing us just how much. What started as a hobby and a ion for both Angela and Vanya eventually turned into a full-time job with sponsors paying them to travel the world and climb various skyscrapers. It also made the two meet and ultimately led them to find love in one another.

The cinematography of the documentary is particularly impressive thanks to the aerial shots that make us understand how high Angela and Vanya are climbing and, simultaneously, how dangerous this whole situation is. It is safe to say that most of us will never experience seeing the world at such height or embarking on such a dangerous adventure, but this movie gives us a chance to experience it, albeit through the safety of a screen. Some of the shots genuinely made me feel like I was the one climbing buildings with them, creating some anxiety-inducing sequences for those in the audience who may have a fear of heights.

I particularly appreciated how the documentary chooses to tell the story as it positions the audience in a very good place to understand the stakes of this adventure with graphics and maps that detail the location and altitude of Angela and Vanya’s latest adventure. The shacky camera footage shot by the subject of the documentary themselves creates a very real aesthetic that does not fail to remind the audience of the fact that Angela and Vanya are alone in climbing the skyscraper. This also adds a new layer to documentary filmmaking as in this case, it seems like the two characters are not simply the subject of the documentary but also in charge of the narrative, at least to some level. After all, as the audience has seen from the introductory segments on each of them, neither Angela nor Vanya are new to documenting their sky-scraping adventures with a camera.

At the same time, however, Angela and Vanya are both practically introduced as characters in a movie. Their backstory is laid out on the screen in front of the audience’s eyes in expositionary scenes where each of them reflects back on their childhood and how they got into this dangerous hobby, which later turned into a job. It is useful to understand the documentary’s subjects and their ion for what they do, but it also feels slow and not very interesting at first. For the entire first half, it feels like this one struggles to find its focus, but once the documentary finds its story, it narrates it brilliantly. In the final part, the stakes are higher than ever making for an incredibly well-paced last act.

Ultimately, Skywalkers: A Love Story is a well-made documentary, even if its subject matter may not seem particularly interesting at first. Its visuals and impressive aerial shots are what really set it apart, which will be hard to appreciate as much when the film will inevitably be released digitally on Netflix rather than in theatres, where the audience could fully appreciate the craft and artistry behind the aesthetic of the documentary.