[spidermonkey09]

Free Solo, holy shit 

The footage of the boulder problem has to be the best bit of climbing footage I have ever seen. Fucking incredible. And his grin when he gets the jugs at the end...

[Duma]

Footage is amazing. Shame about the naff music on the ascent.

[cowboyhat]

Footage is amazing. Shame about the naff music on the ascent.

Yes it lurched into emotive cinema for the masses but was otherwise excellent.

Strange thought at the end; i cant think of another film that is more or less wholly exactly as ive expected it to be.


The conversation on here about autism is out of place to me now. He seems to be a product of his environment. The short backstory bit with school, his mum and dad; that covers it.

[Johnny Brown]

Ditto on much of that. I did think the editing was very good on the first half (which I know bugger all about so feel free to weigh in), several steps above anything I've seen in a climbing film before.

[Potash]

It did seem to have a load of social attitudes that had escaped from the 1950's.

"Imagine what he could achieve if it wasn't for women holding him back with their desire for soft furnishings and houses."

and if you take a beginner climbing and they lower you off the end of the rope that's your problem not theirs.

[Will Hunt]

I saw both of these at the cinema.

Don't get me wrong, Free Solo is worth watching, but I thought Dawn Wall was altogether much stronger. It had a clear and continuous narrative and the storytelling was much better. Free Solo feels a bit like some random bits of Alex's family and friends, watching him eat, watching him be a bit odd, watching him buy a fridge, watch him prep on the route a bit - followed by the obviously gripping ascent footage.

I was ready to cringe at the presentation of soloing and risk to a non-climbing audience, and cringe I did, but not as much as I thought I would. I don't understand why anybody would say he definitely has autism of some sort - he seems to be thoughtful, highly rational, an introvert but no more than that. Some of the overheard comments in the packed cinema were disappointing. "He's a robot"; "he's mental", they said. I expected better of climbers. Surely any climber, at whatever level, knows what it's like to take a risk on the rock or to want to solo something? Maybe it's not the same for those who come to the sport through the indoor wall (sorry for cliched characterisation of wall-bred climbers)? He is still fundamentally recognisable as a climber, albeit an exceptional climber in both the sense that he is outstandingly good and also atypical.

The bit where they stick him in an MRI is something I'd be intrigued to know more about. They ascertained that his amygdala is less active than most people's - but is this something that he was born with or is that something that can be trained?


I thought the juxtapositions between him and his girlfriend made for hilarious and uplifting cinema. She seems nice, but dating Alex must be a cross to bear (at times) for anyone.

The interviews with Tommy Caldwell and Peter Croft were fantastic. You very much get the impression that Tommy thinks Alex's early death is inevitable and he's just enjoying the time he has left while it lasts. Pete Croft reveals that he has soloed The Rostrum 50-60 times 

Footage of the Boulder Problem is rancid. Horrible horrible horrible. But sooooo goooood.

I googled his girlfriend and was amused to find that she is a "Life and Transition Coach":

Sanni McCandless, CPC, ELI-MP is a transition coach for outdoor-focused individuals who want to create more tailored, intentional lifestyles and find agency in their own lives. In her work, she helps people overcome the doubts and concerns that constantly get in the way of living fearlessly and feeling fulfilled. Sanni challenges clients to communicate more honestly with those around them, stop making fear-based decisions, and achieve goals that have been on the back burner for too long.
Coaching with Sanni is not about receiving advice or getting mentored. It's about establishing where you'd like to be and working with someone to tackle whatever it is that's holding you back.

So she basically teaches people how to sack off their family and friends and become a dirtbag. Packages start from $150 for an initial assessment and hour's conversation, up to $900 for the whole hog. It makes me wonder who Fred Beckey's Life and Transition Coach was.

If you watch it, be sure to put your fingers in your ears before the end credits music plays, lest you throw up on the spot.

[36chambers]

If you watch it, be sure to put your fingers in your ears before the end credits music plays, lest you throw up on the spot.

can confirm, was violently sick.

[spidermonkey09]

I thought the juxtapositions between him and his girlfriend made for hilarious and uplifting cinema. She seems nice, but dating Alex must be a cross to bear (at times) for anyone.

The interviews with Tommy Caldwell and Peter Croft were fantastic. You very much get the impression that Tommy thinks Alex's early death is inevitable and he's just enjoying the time he has left while it lasts. Pete Croft reveals that he has soloed The Rostrum 50-60 times 

Footage of the Boulder Problem is rancid. Horrible horrible horrible. But sooooo goooood.

He must be a nightmare to live with. But at least he's honest; if sometimes disarmingly so. In particular where he he flatly says to Sanni's face that he didn't see a relationship as an obligation to maximise lifespan. Both of them must think and evaluate things a lot to work through conversations like that.

How cool was Peter Croft?! I also liked the bit you mention Will. I noticed his eyes flicked towards the camera during the conversation with Honnold; seemed to be an unspoken acknowledgement of the conflict at the heart of the film.

Wild wasn't it. Jimmy Chin looked visibly stressed throughout the entire film. The relief on his topping out must have been immense.

[fatneck]

Thoroughly enjoyed it! Great insight into Alex and thought he came across really well. Loved the ascent footage...

As an aside, it was nice to be at the pictures with some friends and a load of people I vaguely know rather than just with my wife and a load of strangers! Very social experience

[Johnny Brown]

Yeah, Peter Croft just keeps getting cooler. There's that bit early on when they list how 'everyone' who has done a lot of soloing has died, but no mention of Croft. Then up he pops and confirms he's done more than all the others put together. Shame he didn't get to mention what he did in the afternoon after setting an El Cap speed record. Not hangboarding! Which reminds me Ned and Dan must be well chuffed at the product placement. Hope you got the wet n' dry on that one lads.

[Doylo]

Hard for me to make a fair comparison between them because I only saw Dawn Wall at home. Both amazing production values but Free Solo seemed to take the edge on that front. Also the higher stakes give Free Solo the extra drama and weight. Couldn’t help thinking Ondra pissed it whilst watching Dawn Wall, even though that has no bearing on the personal story. The Freerider solo is unmatched and incomprehensible to pretty much everyone. Those few minutes on the crux of the Boulder problem must be the most outrageous moment in any sport ever. Bonkers footage that, says it all when it’s hard to watch even though you know he survives. Couldn’t help thinking how crazy fit he must have been, doing that enduro corner at the end after all that. Not like he got a rest belaying someone up like when your partnered up. And doesn’t sound like he chilled on the ledges much. Mad fucker.

[cheque]

Irresposible of the filmmakers not to show Honnold brushing his tickmarks off I thought. 

I’m glad other people noticed the music. I was sat there miserable thinking “God, they’ve really phoned in the music for the best bit and I bet there’s no one else in here who cares”.

That’s literally the only nit I can pick with Free Solo (haven’t seen Dawn Wall yet)- I came out of the cinema wanting to make more films, climb in Yosemite and go soloing, which I’m sure would make Jimmy Chin happy to hear.

I’ve never really had much respect for him due to things like that GQ shoot and cheesy North Face infomercials but I really changed my mind after watching Free Solo- it was so good to see a big US climbing film that wasn’t delivered in the set-up filled, fake, played-for-laughs style of the Sender films. Most of the good things I could say about it appear higher up this thread but I was most impressed by the way they handled the near-impossible task of making it enjoyable for climbers and non-climbers alike.

I can’t imagine the stress involved either. Even without the “I might film my mate dying” element there must have been crazy amounts of National Geographic’s money involved and I can’t imagine that if Honnold had pulled out/ done it without the cameras/ fallen to his doom they would have been cool with not getting it back.

[Doylo]

I would have used that Danger Zone tune from Top Gun for the send.

[teestub]

There's that bit early on when they list how 'everyone' who has done a lot of soloing has died, but no mention of Croft. Then up he pops and confirms he's done more than all the others put together.

This exactly, it went past almost completely unmentioned that Croft didn’t fit into the earlier hyperbole.

I thought Croft’s words around soloing for the right reasons was one of the most powerful bits in the film, and would have been a massive bit of foreshadowing if we didn’t know there was a happy ending.

I thought the bits with Caldwell also showed him in a light that maybe wasn’t seen in Dawn Wall (and to a lesser extent his book), where all adversity was faced with stoicism. It really was moving to see the love he had for Honnold.

[tomtom]

I would have used that Danger Zone tune from Top Gun for the send.

:D

[Stu Littlefair]

I thought Free Solo was one of the better films I’ve seen in a while, not just a good climbing film.

It’s slightly baggy in the middle but only a little and there’s so much narrative interest in there. I loved how it was really a film about what it’s like to know and love someone like Honnold as much as a document of the ascent.

For a climbing film to touch on subjects like the ethics of extreme sports documentaries; the extreme calm of Honnold’s mind;  his unusual and uplifting relationship; the tension between happiness and achievement, made it such a rich experience. And of top of that, the final ascent is the most gut wrenching thing I’ve watched in years.

Five stars. Would watch again.

[Murph]

The bit where they stick him in an MRI is something I'd be intrigued to know more about. They ascertained that his amygdala is less active than most people's - but is this something that he was born with or is that something that can be trained?

Apparently it can be trained. A thinning of the amygdala, and correlating reduction in perceived stress, is one of the consequences of mindful meditation practice.

[user deactivated]

Crikey, not sure I’d want a thinned amygdala. I knew meditation had to be bad for you

[Johnny Brown]

The bit where they stick him in an MRI is something I'd be intrigued to know more about.

lmgtfya

http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-worlds-greatest-solo-climber

[Will Hunt]

The bit where they stick him in an MRI is something I'd be intrigued to know more about.

lmgtfya

http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-worlds-greatest-solo-climber

Are you standing in to replace Slackline? Can you put the relevant bits in a quote box and follow it with an exasperated emoji, please?

[simes]

Great post above Mr Mocho.

This is a great piece:

https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-27/edition-10/autism-myth-and-reality

Many behaviours associated with a lack of feeling are actually a way of coping with potentially being overcome through far greater sensitivity.

That's a really good article Dave.

[slab_happy]

However, they tip toed around the fact that he's blatantly got ASD, presumably because he's not had a formal diagnosis? It would have been really interesting for this to be explored in more detail and would have taken the film to another level IMO.

So, my take on this, speaking as someone who's on the autistic spectrum (I have a piece of paper to say so and everything), used to work with autistic kids and wrote a book in the field (there's my credentials) --

I've certainly wondered about Honnold, and there's a lot of stuff in the film that I find extremely recognizable. Though there's a lot of stuff that can occur with other types of neuroatypicality too -- people with ADHD can have some similar social issues, for example. And there are some indications from research that autistic people may be prone to have over-active amygdalas, if anything. So I'm trying not to jump to conclusions here.

I think there's a lot of it (neuroatypicality) about in the climbing world in general; as a group, we skew weird. And Honnold's clearly got an unusual brain in some ways.

Apparently he has casually dropped a reference to being "somewhere on the autism spectrum":

http://www.dailycamera.com/recreation/ci_31061205/chris-weidner-all-or-nothing-outrageous-simplicity-alex-honnold

But I don't know how seriously that was meant, if it's a label he particularly identifies with or wants to dig into.

Much as I'd like to claim him for the A Team, I'm actually glad the film didn't get into this, because I don't see how it could have been done without coming across as reductive, offering (possible) autism as an explanation of why or how he does what he does.

Which it really isn't. At most, it might be an explanation of why he's socially awkward and blunt and "quirky" in specific ways, but it definitely doesn't confer mystic soloing powers.

Also, the film has to spend enough time trying to explain climbing to non-climbers; imagine if it had to explain autism as well!

And oh god, think of all the clueless and stupid mainstream media reporting by people who know nothing about climbing, then imagine having that but about autism too. I can guarantee you'd have "He's autistic so he can't feel fear!" (I read an article published last year in Outside that claimed that autistic children can't feel pain), "He's autistic so he can't have human connections!" and "Soloing is his special savant power."

(And then I'd implode from repressed homicidal rage. So probably best not.)

[shark]

Thanks. Good post.

Like you I think they got the balance right by not following the theme any further - the evident social awkwardness and enough clues were there. Like you say if they had not would it have over complicated and distracted the film but many viewers might have walked away with wrong of X+Y=Z assumptions.

However, one way it may have helped him as a soloist was that Honnold seemingly reacted logically rather than emotionally to Steck’s death. I know that Paul Williams death reined in mine and others soloing - even though the risks were always obvious they are more visceral when someone you know dies - though maybe not for Honnold.

Regarding someone else who has ‘a piece of paper’ (clinical psychiatrist) was reportedly overheard as saying ‘classic case of autism’ just 20 mins into the film.

[slab_happy]

The bit where they stick him in an MRI is something I'd be intrigued to know more about.

lmgtfya

http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-worlds-greatest-solo-climber

Got to add this, having transcribed it for a friend because I think it's so entertaining (and as plausible a scientific interpretation as any) -- this is Honnold on the Power Company Climbing podcast ep 59, being asked about the fMRI and giving his personal take on the state of his amygdala:

"So then the question is, is that like nature or nurture? Like, do I just not have an amygdala -- I mean I do physically have one, but does it not work, or did it stop working because I've like slowly bludgeoned it to death through like years of soloing?"

(Interviewer interjection) "Training --"

"Yeah well I prefer to think of it as stepping on my amygdala and grinding it into dust with the heel of my boot. But, um, no, I bet the reality is sort of half and half, that like, I was probably less sensitive -- you know, I bet my amygdala when I was born was already a little bit shrivelled and a little bit tired and just like not quite as responsive as maybe the average amygdala, and then through ten years of consistently pushing myself as a soloist, um, I think my amygdala just gave up and died."

[slab_happy]

However, one way it may have helped him as a soloist was that Honnold seemingly reacted logically rather than emotionally to Steck’s death. I know that Paul Williams death reined in mine and others soloing - even though the risks were always obvious they are more visceral when someone you know dies - though maybe not for Honnold.

Yeah, it definitely comes across that his particularly logical approach to certain things (and his whole personality in general) shapes how he handles soloing.

Regarding someone else who has ‘a piece of paper’ (clinical psychiatrist) was reportedly overheard as saying ‘classic case of autism’ just 20 mins into the film.

Not surprised. Personally, I'm kind of wary of armchair diagnosis on principle (even though at least two people have been able to armchair-diagnose me just on the basis of chatting at the climbing wall) -- but that's partly because it's often so tempting. Especially when it comes to claiming cool people for one's "own" team.

So I'm trying to leave it at saying that there's stuff that some of us will find extremely recognizable.

Semi-tangential -- one thing I liked about the film as a portrait of a soloist (and also if you view it as a portrait of a possibly-autistic person) is how connected it shows Honnold as being, in contrast to the classic Soloist As Lone Wolf Superman thing.

He is introverted and a loner in some ways, he is socially awkward and clearly having to work at learning how to communicate about emotions and handle being in a serious relationship, he's doing this thing which is on one level supremely solitary -- but at the same time, he is connected to all this other people, he's got these friendships with Caldwell and Chin and Croft, for example (all of whom obviously care about him a lot), he's in an intimate relationship and trying to make it work, and you've kind of got the film crew as on-screen representatives of the climbing community he's embedded in, who are all pretty invested in him not dying (and he's personally invested in not dying too, but is additionally conscious of the potential harm to them if they have to watch him die).

I thought that was much more interesting and nuanced than the usual.