“Like two file cabinets”, snorts one New Yorker in The Walk, Robert Zemeckis’ exhilarating film about Philippe Petit, the French wire-walker who tightroped across the towers as they were nearing completion in 1974.
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Journalist Mark Harris said on his Twitter feed that the film could be a “bad visual trigger for vertigo sufferers”. He said, “I managed to fool Americans with my French.’ And he’s right”. This is the rare movie that’s essential in 3D, because Zemeckis takes advantage of the format’s potential for depth and visceral pop. Advances in 3D have made comin’-atcha effects seem gauche, as numerous most celebrated examples (such as Avatar, Coraline, Hugo, and Pina) have focused on creating immersive environments rather than poking viewers in the face. I have never attempted this before but after Petit’s high wire act, my heart whispers to me, “Try it”. You have to be brazen, you have to bold and you just have to do it. The great thing about this is that it’s a family film, and I highly recommend bringing your older kids. “Do nothing!” Kingsley roars at Gordon-Levitt at one point early on, schooling him in the art of the proper bow before an audience. “And I don’t know if it’s really my place to speak for him”.
In Cancun, Mexico, Gordon-Levitt spoke of the training, the tragedy of the Twin Towers and the risk-taking.
He eventually returned, taking roles in indie films like “50/50” and “500 Days of Summer” and writing and directing the critically acclaimed “Don Jon”. “And to me there’s something lovely about remembering the birth of these buildings”. Even here though, I have to confess that the script appears to lack a certain confidence in the efficacy of its own images and so gives us surrogate audiences pumping their fists in exhilaration, standing up and applauding, and endlessly verbalizing which emotions we are supposed to feel. Gordon-Levitt is both charming and arrogant as Petit, the cast back him up well and the cinematography is simply attractive. We spend months or years preparing our “products” and we only have a few minutes to present it to the world. While Gordon-Levitt’s French sounds admirable to these ears, his accent sounds like Peter Sellers’ immortal Inspector Clouseau.
A game but miscast and badly wigged Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the Ile-de-France-born Petit. But the story that leads up to the crucial third act is good enough to be acquitted by the final set piece, which also doubles as a bit of a love letter to the World Trade Center towers. When you know your director trusts you it’s a flattering feeling to have, especially coming from somebody like Robert Zemeckis.
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He cuts corners to get his prince to the castle as quickly as possible, and he embellishes freely to keep the story afloat just above the realm of the real. The fact that we’d see them in another way after they’re gone makes The Walk a stealth September 11 tribute, the most lovely of its kind since the opening credits of Spike Lee’s 25th Hour.
