If you watched Free Solo - the Oscar-winning documentary about the attempt to climb Yosemite's El Capitan for the first time without any additional ropes and gear - and thought, "Nope to all that!" then you'll be equally noping through the Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story.
Telling the story of fellow Russian "rooftoppers" - daredevils who climb buildings, cranes, radio towers, etc. for the thrills and fame - Angela Nikolau and Vanya Beerkus, who became soulmates and collaborators after Angela, the daughter of circus performers and sole female rooftopper in Russia, connects with Vanya, a popular presence on social media. While he was more of the daredevil, she brought an artistic flair, posing in glamorous outfits in extremely dangerous locations for striking photographs.
As a team they had sponsors for their adventures until the tag team of the global scamdemic shut down the world and then Russia's invasion of Ukraine made their country a pariah state which limited money-making opportunities. They try to make money selling NFTs (remember when they were the fad for 15 seconds?), but cracks begin to form in their relationship including trust issues which for their line of art is a potentially lethal flaw.
Vanya decides they need to go out with a big splashy climb, attempting to scale the Merdeka 118 tower under construction in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Topped by a spire soaring to 2,227 feet, it will be the second-tallest building in the world only behind the Burj Khalifa in Dubai of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol fame. (For reference, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were "only" 1,355 feet tall.)
With the assistance of contacts in the area with drones to surveil the area, Vanya develops a plan to access the tower by climbing up onto an adjoining sports arena, then cross an intervening shopping mall, then climbing the tower's stairwells to access the spires under the presumption that the security camera coverage may be incomplete and the guards will be distracted by the World Cup Final match that night. More than usual, not getting caught is a big deal because Asian countries don't play with such shenanigans and if busted, they could face years in slam.
Adding to the complexity is his decision to snag a piece of scaffolding, lug it to the top of the hollow spire and lay it across to make a narrow shaky platform to perform a swan pose which consists of Vanya lifting Angela above him in the big Dirty Dancing move used by Ryan Gosling in Crazy Stupid Love. We see them struggle to pull this move off on the ground (clever editing, no doubt) so the prospect of doing it nearly a half-mile above the ground where failure would be fatal. And if that's not enough, Angela suffers an injury while preparing which prevents her from using an arm for weeks leading to the climb which has to happen on World Cup Final night or their cover would be lost.
The last act of the film consists of their attempt filmed with GoPros and drones and without spoiling the conclusion, it's a tense and fraught experience when unexpected workers force them into hiding for nearly a day and with limited food and water due to needing to carry extra batteries for the gizmos and the expectation it was going to be a one-night hit-and-run, when they finally get their chance at the spire, they're in rough shape and the overall bad ideaness of this caper is off the charts.
While packed with stunning footage of their exploits, we never really get inside the heads of the couple, especially Vanya who doesn't do much narration of his feelings. The stresses of fame, ambition, and making a living weigh down on them and as they realize many of their rooftopping community friends are leaving the scene due to terminal encounters with gravity (i.e. they're falling down and going splat), the "We can't do this forever," aspect calls into question whether they have anything in common beyond their half-mile high club adventures?
While ultimately superficial, Skywalkers: A Love Story has plenty of thrills and tension for those who'd never in a million years put themselves where these two do for love and fame.
Score: 7/10. Catch it on Netflix.
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