Free Solo (film)

Movie
German title	Free solo
Original title	Free solo
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2018
length	100 minutes
Age rating	FSK 6 ; JMK 8
Rod
Director	Jimmy Chin , ; Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
production	Jimmy Chin, ; Shannon Dill , ; Evan Hayes , ; Shannon Hill , ; Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
music	Marco Beltrami
camera	Jimmy Chin, ; Matt Clegg , ; Clair Popkin , ; Mikey Schaefer
cut	Bob Eisenhardt
occupation
	Alex Honnold; Tommy Caldwell; Jimmy Chin; Sanni McCandless;

Free Solo is a documentary by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi , which was shown for the first time on August 31, 2018 as part of the Telluride Film Festival . As part of the Oscar ceremony in 2019 was free solo named best documentary.

content

In free solo of defeats free climbers Alex Honnold without ropes and other technical aids to up to 1000 meters high granite rock El Capitan in Yosemite National Park . The film also shows the preparations of the daring company.

The title of the film refers to Free Solo , the single-handed ascent of a climbing route without the use of technical aids and safety equipment.

production

The free climber Alex Honnold

The cameraman Jimmy Chin documented Alex Honnold's conquest of El Capitan . Other cameramen involved were Matt Clegg , Clair Popkin and Mikey Schaefer . The film editing was done by Bob Eisenhardt .

The film music was composed by Marco Beltrami .

The film premiered on August 31, 2018 as part of the Telluride Film Festival . The film was released in selected American cinemas on September 28, 2018. A theatrical release in Germany took place on March 21, 2019.

reception

Reviews and grossing results

The film has so far convinced 99 percent of all Rotten Tomatoes critics and received an average rating of 8.2 out of a possible 10 points.

The film service rated the film with four out of five possible stars and certified it a “formal brilliance”, which also made it “an eulogy for the unique power of cinema”. The film received three out of five possible stars in the magazine epd Film , the author Barbara Schweizerhof highlighted the “diversity of problems” “which come up here as if in passing” and made the film “much more memorable than comparable mountaineering documentaries”. She relates this to the many trial ascents and the influence of the presence of the cameras on Honnold's climbing.

Peter Osteried from Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kino writes that Free Solo knows how to give viewers a sense of why the extreme athlete is doing what he is doing: “You like to believe that in these moments on the wall you are closer to life than ever before feels, or considers oneself greater than life, when one attains the absolute perfection necessary to survive such an ascent. But the film does not suppress the fact that free solo climbers often do not get old. Many died in crashes. ”Just as Alex Honnold cannot escape the mountain's reputation, the viewer cannot escape the effect of this film. The shots of the climber on the wall are breathtaking, Osteried continues, and some shots even caused a queasy feeling, for example when Hon [n] old begins to climb the dangerous passages of El Capitan without safety, which is more exciting and exciting than any no matter how good a thriller is.

The film's revenue from screenings in the USA and Canada has so far been around 17.5 million US dollars, and around 24 million US dollars worldwide (as of May 2, 2019).