Variety
For those who love the thrill of high-adrenaline adventure docs, National Geographic's "Free Solo" will be a hard experience to top.
Full review
Free Solo
Oscar-winning documentary from the filmmakers behind Meru, following Alex Honnold as he becomes the first person to ever free solo climb Yosemite's 3000-foot-high El Capitan Wall.
"Directors E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin previously made the acclaimed mountain-climbing movie Meru. They follow Honnold over two years as he tests the limits of his ambition. 'If you're seeking perfection, free soloing is as close as you can get,' Honnold declares. But Chin, an experienced adventure photographer who's cheated death before, has a different take: 'If you're pushing the edge, eventually you find the edge.' Honnold has long been a loner, living out of his van for nine years. We watch as he makes lifestyle changes with a new girlfriend, Sanni. Will that emotional attachment be helpful or harmful when he needs total concentration?" (Toronto International Film Festival)
Best Documentary, Academy Awards 2019; Best Documentary, Golden Globes 2019
2018Rating: M, Coarse language97 minsUSA
DocumentarySport
- Director:
- Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi ('Meru', 'Incorruptible', 'Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love')Jimmy Chin ('Meru')
- Cast:
- Alex Honnold
Free Solo / Reviews
Vanity Fair
Free Solo doesn't explore this history too deeply, but it does at least offer an evocative glimpse of what forces, both of nature and nurture, might conspire to produce such high-stakes daring.
Full reviewThe New York Times
Despite a somewhat soft middle section, "Free Solo" is an engaging study of a perfect match between passion and personality.
Full review
Sydney Morning Herald
As climbing films go, I’ve never seen a better one. Jimmy Chin, who co-directs with Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, is something of a legend in his field – a top climber himself, he has taken the filming of climbing to, er, new heights.
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Stuff
Free Solo is a fantastic, unrepeatable film. Whether or not you know how it ends, you will be literally on the edge of your seat for a great deal of it, and entranced from beginning to end.
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Rolling Stone
If mountain-climbing docs make you puke-dizzy, this one is is probably not a good idea. But as Alex Honnold climbs El Capitan solo and without a net, you feel every adrenaline-pumping moment.
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Los Angeles Times
Both intimate and expansive, Free Solo is a documentary beautifully calculated to literally take your breath away. And it does.
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