Man On Wire
27 September, 2008
It is fortunate that Phillipe Petit is a fascinating subject, because the film itself is deadly dull and at times horribly offensive. They managed to make one of the most fascinating and beautiful acts of defiantly public art almost boring, mundane. But, oh, Phillipe Petit, balanced on that wire. If they had simply had him recount his tale, from beginning to end, and played that as a soundtrack over the archival stills and footage, with cuts to footage of the participants as they are now, the film would have been incredibly moving. It is unfortunate that Petit is not macho enough for Herzog, because to see Herzog attack this subject would be utter joy.
