Free Solo Oscar... Alex who??

I'm just realizing I really liked the music playing during the big climb at the end

The soundtrack composer (looks like Marco Beltrami after some googling) deserves some props!

Just try to hear those piano notes in your head when you're cruxing out and you'll send fer sure ..... lol

John RB wrote: Poor Honnold... he looks so uncomfortable up there.  Not built for the spotlight: awkward, nerdy, and much more comfortable high on some cliff with the wind blowing and no one around.  I totally get the asperger-y side of Honnold since I'm much the same way.  

He handles fame much better than most would, I think. I just hope he doesn't get addicted to it since we all know where that goes... "Well, I soloed a 13a on El Cap and the Salathe is only 13c..."

Anyway, like someone said above, this film really is just Alex.   No Alex, no film. Everyone else was replaceable.

It really is sometimes funny to see.  I remember once when Jimmy Chin posted an Instagram story of Honnold at some big dinner thing in New York with like Oprah and all of these other A-listers....and I'm pretty sure Honnold was wearing a tie and approach shoes.  The dude definitely cannot be criticized for not really being a dirt bag at heart.

I think people need to give Vasarhelyi  and Jimmy a break here.  I'm not taking away from Honnold's accomplishment one bit, but how many awesome things have been done in the climbing world in the past?  And how many of those things resulted in a film this successful?  They literally made the most successful climbing film of all time.  The Oscar is theirs for a reason.  Honnold has been celebrated, as he should be, and I think Vasarhelyi's comments at the end were appropriate.  But don't act like Honnold is the real reason this film was so successful.  He obviously played a necessary part in it, but it was far from a sufficient part.  

I liked the movie a lot mostly for all the high angle footage....so so good.....

With respect to the above it is fun to imagine what free solo would be like in the other tried and true climbing formats

1) Like the old spartan, understated Brit mountaineering docs

2) Reel Rock pump you up

3) give Honnold a headcam GoPro and upload the sketchy footage to youtube

4) forget doing the actual climb and just green screen it in the studio

5) Hollywood it up, maybe add some exploding bolts and condor attacks mid climb

This movie was a very close intimate look at what makes Alex go. I think people are responding positively to his extreme awesome dedication to the craft.

She's right though, without Sanni there would be no injury subplot.

Matthew Devine wrote: She's right though, without Sanni there would be no injury subplot.

"You climbed your own mountain that day." (Said to Sanni)

Undoubtedly comparing the emotional stress of loving someone who's doing something risky to the emotional-and-physical stress of someone actually doing it.  I thought it was cheesy, but I guess some people will find it profound.

Chick on Crack wrote: (But maybe now Charleston, SC, will open a roped up gym...though, our bouldering gym kicks booty for sea level).

One could only hope. We drive to Charlotte every now and then for a full day of indoor options. Ugh! 

Zack Robinson wrote: I think people need to give Vasarhelyi  and Jimmy a break here.  I'm not taking away from Honnold's accomplishment one bit, but how many awesome things have been done in the climbing world in the past?  And how many of those things resulted in a film this successful?  They literally made the most successful climbing film of all time.  The Oscar is theirs for a reason.  Honnold has been celebrated, as he should be, and I think Vasarhelyi's comments at the end were appropriate.  But don't act like Honnold is the real reason this film was so successful.  He obviously played a necessary part in it, but it was far from a sufficient part.  

That is the mistake.  That is the hype machine at its worst.  Honnold is the real reason, his part is more than sufficient.  

Live Perched wrote:

That is the mistake.  That is the hype machine at its worst.  Honnold is the real reason, his part is more than sufficient.  

you’re right, Alex and a GoPro and his breathing for best soundtrack = 2 Oscars 

then he could have pulled a metallica and thanked himself for having the courage to make the film (although in his case it actuallytook courage)

“I know that I’m in the film, but I think I did the least actual work on the film,” he humbly said in a toast to the film’s team at Craft in LA. “I just lived for two years, had a great time and went climbing. And I know that some of you guys were toiling literally for years to make this film and I just want to say thank you personally to everyone’s worked on this.”

Ken Duncan wrote:
“I know that I’m in the film, but I think I did the least actual work on the film,” he humbly said in a toast to the film’s team at Craft in LA. “I just lived for two years, had a great time and went climbing. And I know that some of you guys were toiling literally for years to make this film and I just want to say thank you personally to everyone’s worked on this.”

Meh... he's said before that the El Cap solo was the culmination of 8 years of work and preparation.  There's no way they worked as hard on the film as he did on the climb, he's just being gracious.

Just saw on the NatGeo channel that they are airing Free Solo - I think it's this Sunday but their website doesn't have info - if anyone wants to see it again (and I know you do!)

The Oscars are awards given to the storytellers, not the subjects in the story.

Schindler's List won several Oscars. Should the credit go to Steven Spielberg or the Nazis?

I think the Oscar's are stupid and haven't watched in a decade or more, but its an awards ceremony for filmmakers, not athletes. The directors deserve the attention they're getting.

Interesting interview with Alex before the Oscars. It's pretty funny, really.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao8c0f89lWg

Perry Norris wrote: Interesting interview with Alex before the Oscars. It's pretty funny, really.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao8c0f89lWg

Custom North Face tux - wow - not sure how I feel about that...

Live Perched wrote:

That is the mistake.  That is the hype machine at its worst.  Honnold is the real reason, his part is more than sufficient.  

There are plenty of film makers out there who could have shot and edited the same climb into a piece of film that is not Oscar worthy.  The award is for the film craft.

This community is all about hating on the idea of selling out and who contributes to whom in what way. it was awesome, get over yourselves. 

Break it down.
-Alex Honnold did an amazing thing.  top 10 climbing achievements of all time, IMO
-They turned it into a documentary that non-climbers could appreciate, Sanni humanized him and allowed the audience to relate, she was vital to the films success, not the success of the climb
- it won an ocsar, it wasnt just for climbers, we're a small community of dirtbags who dont want to spend money and hate on those who get free stuff we dont get ... who would want to make a movie for just climbers ... oh yea, Dawn Wall ... better movie if you're a climber maybe, not so great if you're not a climber.

Yet everyone here cant believe climbing won an Oscar, so its over ... rock climbing is over ppl... just quit, and avoid the hassle of gumby filled cliffs and gyms full of Alex's name being praised by college kids trying to impress their dates ... we had a good run... PM me, I'm selling all my gear!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao8c0f89lWg

This interview is cool.  That North Face custom tux would have been SO dope if they had put a little logo on it somewhere visible.  Ironic that they didn't -- but I think it would have been straight fire to see it in gold on the lapel or shoulder.

jeep gaskin wrote: never been much of a movie guy. casablanca, big labowski, space jam, hurt locker. free solo joins my all time top five. everybody in the story loves honnold except his mama. christ jesus.

Space Jam?