5 Punk Art Films About Punk Art

2. Man On Wire

The question still stands: What is art? How do you define it, identify it, qualify or quantify it, value it? And what about the artists? Where do they fit in? Man On Wire may not seem to be about those things at first. Indeed, for most of its runtime, the film plays as the most thrilling Hollywood heist story that Hollywood never made. The careful planning of the stunt, the training, the assembling of the team to execute the job, all of it fits into the time-honored archetypal slots we associate with classic crime films. Except that this story was true, and the crime was a literal high-wire act. When Phillipe Petit saw a drawing of the planned World Trade Centers in New York City, the French acrobat drew a line connecting one to the other. Six years later, Petit stood on that line, walking a suspension coil that had been dangled between the two buildings. While New Yorkers gaped in awe hundreds of floors below, Phillipe Petit literally danced on the air. Why? That€™s probably the first question that anyone hearing the story would ask, and it€™s the one that the film ignores. Petit shrugs off such questions, insisting the feat (and the many, many others that he has performed) was simply something that he was compelled to do. The circle of friends who assisted him in training, planning and executing the stunt seem to be as baffled by the guy as the public, they€™re just drawn to his energy, the thrill of the stunt and the incredible visions that his art creates. It is in Man On Wire's refusal to analyze or explain this aspect of Petit that allows the documentary to transcend itself from being just an exciting, well-told story. Man On Wire becomes the story of ALL artists and ALL artworks, a story about the insane lengths that any creative will go to bring their creation to completion. Instead of being just an examination of one odd French dude€™s compulsion, the film attacks the heart of all compulsions, dreams and artistic goals. By charting Petit€™s insane journey, director James Marsh creates a roadmap of the driven life, portraying an artist at his peak, without condoning or denouncing any bit of the process.