Michael Bay has benefitted from a vibe shift amongst cinephiles lately, going from punchline standing to being (typically begrudgingly) acknowledged as a definite auteur. As of late, you’re extra prone to see somebody with a Letterboxd hyperlink of their bio telling you that “AmbuLAnce” is an underrated work of camp than making snide feedback about Bay’s love of explosions.
In case you’re seeking to distill Bay’s work down to at least one distinct theme, you would do lots worse than the concept the issues we take pleasure in as kids shouldn’t must lose their worth as we enter maturity. From spaceships and navy jets to literal Hasbro merchandise, Bay has at all times come throughout as somewhat boy who grew up and obtained to spend his life taking part in along with his favourite toys on a large scale. He has at all times defended the truth that he makes the sort of unapologetic escapism that might have delighted him in center faculty and appears admirably content material to have a blast making motion pictures with out concern for what movie snobs may assume.
In that gentle, it makes good sense that Bay’s first foray into documentary filmmaking is “We Are Storror,” a portrait of the world’s most well-known parkour workforce who worry that growing old our bodies and YouTube demonetization may sometime pressure them to get actual jobs. The movie options loads of death-defying spectacle because the daredevils chase larger and greater highs leaping between buildings, but it surely’s in the end a movie about what occurs when seven center faculty boys discover a interest and keep it up for therefore lengthy that they by no means have to think about the opportunity of doing anything. Till, after all, they inevitably do.
With practically 11 million YouTube subscribers, the parkour collective often known as Storror has change into one of many largest manufacturers in athletics. Established in 2010 by seven buddies from southeastern England, the group has earned worldwide fame and fortune by turning city sprawl into the last word impediment programs. They spend their lives sneaking onto the roofs of skyscrapers and leaping between them, hurdling over railings, and usually risking their lives for the joys of precision. It’s a medium that falls someplace between sports activities and artwork, requiring the creativity to see alternative the place others simply see buildings and the health to confidently make jumps that might finish your life if you happen to missed.
Storror members insist that parkour is misunderstood as merely leaping between buildings, although a stable 80% of the stunt footage in “We Are Storror” is them leaping between buildings. And even when it’s an oversimplification, it is sensible to distill all the sport to an act that encapsulates the hazard its members discover so poetic. A typical chorus within the movie is that parkour is the one sport at which you’re by no means allowed to fail. Tom Brady threw interceptions and Michael Jordan missed baskets with out penalties, however no one who jumps between 100 story skyscrapers will get a second probability in the event that they get it incorrect.
“We Are Storror” does characteristic some eloquent monologues in regards to the precision and hazard of parkour and what that claims about life itself. However at their core, these seven constructing jumpers appear primarily motivated by the love of hanging out with their bros. All of them stumbled into parkour at younger ages and their lives will without end be outlined by the camaraderie they present in Storror. The makeshift household has guided them by means of each formative chapter of their lives, from the awkwardness of center faculty to the second you notice your whole buddies are getting married and beginning households. As they nervously talk about what may come subsequent, it turns into clear that their largest worry is change.
There isn’t any ticking clock or looming end line that poses a right away risk to Storror, however the future is on everybody’s thoughts. It appears self-evident that their our bodies gained’t permit them to make these jumps without end, and at a sure level individuals can have sufficient to lose to render the dangers undesirable. There’s additionally the fixed adjustments to YouTube algorithms — a rule change that demonetized roof jumps compelled the crew to start out discovering new stunts to movie, a lot of that are much less artistically satisfying to them.
In some methods, “We Are Storror” looks like a coming-of-age film that’s taking place a decade too late, as these seven buddies have largely been spared the burden of constructing pragmatic selections of their teenagers and 20s because of the success of their YouTube channel. There’s a restrict to how a lot sympathy might be felt for his or her monologues about dropping the limitless freedom of hanging out with buddies with out tasks, provided that they loved it for a stable decade greater than anybody watching in all probability did. Nonetheless, “We Are Storror” is a compelling doc of a friendship that has formed seven lives for the higher and left them within the enviable place of with the ability to actually say their deepest want is for every thing to stay the identical. Father Time is undefeated, however typically one of the best ways to momentarily freeze his results is to spend a second leaping between two skyscrapers.
Grade: B
“We Are Storror” premiered at SXSW 2025. It’s presently looking for U.S. distribution.
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