Few directors are also devoid of subtlety as Michael Bay. It is a filmmaker who can transform any type of scene into an action scene and often films quieter moments as if he turns the culmination of a film. But while The bay has designed many spectacular action scenes In the past, his latest film could be his most daring and impressive work to date. It was also extremely dangerous to shoot, so much so that Bay was legally unable to be nowhere near the set while the cameras were rolling.
When you hear the words “a documentary by Michael Bay”, many thoughts come to my mind. However, looking at “we are story”, you realize that, Of courseParkour Daredevils defying death that performs weird waterfalls on the regular would be the subject that caught Bay’s attention.
There was only a small problem. As a member of Directors Guild of America, Bay was legally required to guarantee that any together he works is without risk and as safe as possible. Of course, a film on people who jump on roofs to hundreds of feet above the ground is anything but without risk.
“I said,” I don’t care about knowing anything you do. I do not approve it. What you do is illegal. This is completely false “”, explained Bay during a Q&R after the first of “We Are Storror” in Sxsw. “I do not do anything about it. I am not a producer. I am not a director, so forget my name, call me later, and I will look at the images and see if I license it.”
Bay and his legal team have spent real years to determine how to make “We Are Storror” in a way that would not place the director in legal danger if something is wrong (and many did it). The key was that it would not be authorized on the set or would not be involved in the shooting at all. “I could not be involved in any way, a form or a form,” noted Bay in Q&R. He couldn’t even have knowledge of the images as long as not everything was turned and that everyone was aliveary – to the point where a big accident that occurred early during the shooting was a complete new in Bay when he discovered it much later.
We are story is an intense action documentary
“We Are Storror” tells the story of Storror, a YouTube Parkour team made up of a group of Parkour artists from London (two sets of brothers and three friends). The team had already worked with Bay on Parkour’s stages “6 underground”, a film that has one of the worst posters of all time.
As you can imagine on the basis of the concept, the involvement of Bay and the story of Storror of incredible and wild waterfalls, “We Are Storror” has some of the most intense and amazing action waterfalls as the waterfalls are just as Those in the Bay thriller “ambulance”. Meanwhile, the acrobatics themselves are as visceral as the climatic climb of “free solo”, only they take place every 10 minutes instead of simply at the end. If you suffer from vertigo, you will have a bad time with this film … and even if you do not, you could always leave the theater with sweaty palm trees and a new appreciation of never having to make these dangerous waterfalls in your own life.
Indeed, even without explosions or shootings, “We Are Storror” feels like a project of Michael Bay thanks to the pure spectacle of watching these British people defy gravity on the roofs in Malta or running with monkeys on Indian roofs. Whether you are already a fan of the group or that it is the first time you hear about them, their adventure of lot of the globe is inspiring.
In We Are Storror, Parkour is the friends we made along the way
In addition to the intense parkour scenes, which makes “We Are Storror” a good documentary is its poignant exploration of the male link. Although Bay was not involved in the real shooting, he had a big note for the members of Storror: “Turn everything”. This included the preparation process for each cascade, the meticulous planning of the choreography, the dusting of the site so that they do not meet any surprises, the messages and their doubts. These are things that the group always leaves aside their YouTube videos, so including them here made all the difference.
You see, the film begins with the eponymous group practicing their last blow in a Portuguese dam before one of his friends suffered a horrible accident. This event throws a shadow on the rest of the film, because the different members of Storror react differently to this imminent death experience. After all, they are no longer adolescents, but men in their thirties whose bodies do not respond in the same way to all wear. We learn the sacrifices they have made for the group, leaving studies and other career paths, and see the beginnings of their doubts and regret because they realize that they may not need to risk their lives for a YouTube video.
Like “Jackass Forever”, there is a melancholy atmosphere at “We Are Storror”. The film could be a celebration of their trip so far, but it is also a bit of a Coda at least an era of their career. There is a bit of one aspect of Peter Pan syndrome with documentary and how these guys essentially realized their dream too early. Now, they must count with the vulnerability of adulthood, the naivety of youth, the price of transforming your hobby into work, as well as the recklessness of dangerous waterfalls, which all make poignant themes that the documentary explores with care and empathy.
Storror will continue to make videos (they have shot several in time since the reduction of this film) and Michael Bay will continue to make great ridiculous films. However, “We Are Storror” reveals a different side of the two creatives that I want us to see more in the future.
