
The film “Skywalkers A Love Story” features two reckless thrill-seekers who are willing to make the most outlandish of stunts to gain likes on social media, instead of showcasing resilience, determination, or inquisitiveness, which would be true in a documentary film. The writer’s intent is clear when people with love for stunning views of the city, who understand that nature has given them pretty skills, create breathtaking photos for Instagram, it becomes a great love story. Most of the time, the story fails to have any strong ties to the couple and their relationship. Despite what they claim, it is evident that they have really climbed up to many remarkable buildings, however, the entire story feels phony.
Two Russians named Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau are all about “rooftoping” which involves going on top of buildings, which is quite an international stunt. Sitting on a flagpole may seem bizarre but that trend originated in the US during the 1920s, with the only difference being that this one is at a higher level while remaining relatively safe.
Rooftoppers, unlike the legendary comment made by George Leigh Mallory, who, when asked why he wished to conquer the then unconquered Mount Everest, replied, Because it’s there. do not wish to just enter their own domain unobtrusively; rather, they want to be seen and want the world to see them scaling the skyscrapers.
It begins with short segments in 2019 in which Nikolau and Beerkus are getting ready to make an ascent to the apex of the spire of one of the tallest buildings in the world, having been completed at a height of 2227 feet the Merdeka 118, located in Malaysia and also featured in an MCU film ‘Thunderbolts’ which is about to be released. Then, as the narrative unfolds, there is some background about the couple before they met, including both the literal and the romantic aspects of their relationship with all its ups and downs.
Nikolau was born in a circus. She had a soft corner for her parents’ act as an aerialist duo on the flying trapeze. Sadly, her father left with another woman and her mother could never get over it. Nikolau was placed in the household of her grandmother and made a vow to herself ‘no more reliance on anyone’. However, until she discovered Rooftoppers on Instagram, she had not made up her mind about the course of her life. All of them were men. She had a purpose in life. “To see their freedom, their determination was like watching magic. They are willing to take extreme risks in order to fulfill their potential. This is my performance, my canvas. I felt like I could fly.”
What is striking here is that she did not have an average male ego but wanted to climb onto taller and scarier structures in order to perform for selfie videos wearing extravagant outfits (high heels) and striking gravity-defying gymnastic poses that combination required a lot of balance and flexibility. It has to be said that Nikolau is quite a stunning young lady.
Beerkus cherished the thrill of the ascent. He claims that the deeper he sits, the better he can breathe. He had the largest number of followers on Instagram in the whole of Russia. And on Instagram is where he first came across Nikolau. He was impressed by her photos and asked her to go with him to China where they would climb the tallest construction site in the world, which was fully sponsored. They first met on the way. And as soon as the impending pictures are posted, she\’s all set to gain hundreds of thousands of followers and will also get some sponsorship opportunities. What could be better than this to find the true soulmate?
There’s a nauseating rom-com-esque montage: they’re in a bubble bath, they’re dancing, they’re eating street food tutorials. We watch them climbing, posting, and then being arrested. We also witness them stating almost as an aside that one of their comrades who is a rooftopper, died after a fall. But what have they managed to learn from this? No, not that this could be risky and encourage others to go to extremes to pursue such a craze. No, not that significant things such as the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, and the pandemic touch far more things than just their tweets, and relabeling rooftoping as skywalking.
What makes them angrier is not the deaths of other rooftoppers, but the loss of sponsors. They claim to gain valuable experience from this how to avoid getting caught through clever disguises, how to obscure security cameras, how to arm themselves with bolt cutters, and how to organize a climb at the time of the World Cup when absolutely no one is looking.
Not only are the climbers uninterested in the fatal nature of the stunts all the participants, including the eloquent filmmakers who accompany the 30+ hour stunt, the credits with a light-hearted track, and the narration of the film. The climbs are definitely high, scripted ones though. Yet the movie seems to be almost as unreal as the astroturf and dolls, as the couple kept banging on about trust issues, the need to take risks, and the ‘catcher’ who is the ‘strong man’ who is more important for trapeze artists than the ‘flyer’ who is the ‘eye-candy’. Communication with a Ukrainian clown refugee seems right for a second, but clearly, Nikolau has no shame that she looks that way. Zimbalist (a rooftop in his past lives once) and the other director of the movie, Maria Bukhonina, stereotyped that action as real but the characters are strictly photoshopped versions of it.
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