Space Cowboy
(USA, 98 min.)
Dir. Marah Strauch, Bryce Leavitt
Programme: TIFF Docs (World premiere)
Land and sky thrillingly collide in Space Cowboy as skydiving cinematographer Joe Jennings undertakes gobsmacking daring dos. One hopes that any collisions are purely metaphorical, though, in this edge-your-seat adrenaline rush. Jennings embarks on a seemingly suicidal mission staging bravura tableaux while sailing through the air. He devises elaborate set-ups, like two people seated at a bistro set, and then drops them out of an airplane and whirls around the installation taking shots as it careens towards the ground. This cowboy of the high skies vows to cross the final frontier with his greatest mission yet: a car ride that proves smooth sailing from thousands of feet above ground.
The skydiver’s dream is to drop a car from an airplane and get a great shot of four people enjoying the ride with the wind in their hair. That’s not an easy task. Space Cowboy observes a loony process of trial and error as cars of all sizes careen to the ground and flatten on impact.
The weight, shape, and structure of cars also makes them far more unpredictable than the other objects that Jennings uses. Since cars have aerodynamic designs meant to cut through wind while driving forward on flat ground, they move dangerously with nothing but air beneath them. They spin and swirl, catching wind as Jennings’ awesome cinematography chronicles each death drop.
There are passengers in the air, too, as skydivers negotiate the ride. They learn to gauge when the fall’s going sideways, then bail and open their parachutes. But no matter how well they can predict the right time to abandon ship, they can’t guess how a car will react with the sudden loss of weight. Noses are broken.
Jennings finds a perfect storyteller in Austrian-American filmmaker Marah Strauch, who makes a long overdue return to the TIFF Docs programme after her 2014 feat Sunshine Superman. Strauch’s debut film recounts the zany leaps by BASE jumper Carl Boenish, who strapped a 16mm camera to his helmet and plunged from cliffs, towers, cityscapes, bridges, and other free-standing works. While Boenish’s archival presence, to an extent, makes the outcome of the earlier work predictable, Jennings’ bravura cinematography and contemporary interviews make the drops of Space Cowboy an anxiety-inducing odyssey.
Joining forces with newcomer Bryce Leavitt, Strauch once again tells the story of a daredevil who attempts to defy gravity. Both daredevil docs observe risk-takers who push the limits of human endeavour (and the natural forces of the Earth) in pursuit of that insatiable adrenaline rush. Jennings, wild bronco that he is, doesn’t quite share Boenish’s fatalist mentality. He’s a real safety man who studies each failed attempt.
Strauch and Leavitt observe how Jennings retrofits each car to improve its fall and to ensure the safety of participants. He removes parts to reduce weight and adds rudder-like contraptions to help steer the car and navigate the airwaves. It’s some pretty sophisticated autoshop work.
The film similarly stickhandles Jennings history of daring dos. Archival footage shows some wild leaps, including his skysurfing breakthroughs that challenges the extremity of extreme sports. (“It’s basically like the Silver Surfer,” Jennings says, referencing the comic book/movie character.)
Jennings’ work and thrill-seeking prowess catches eyes. He shoots zany stunts for movies like Charlie’s Angels and San Andreas, and really makes his mark with commercials. The latter pursuit adds a twist of tragedy—and of sobriety—to Jennings’ story. The film makes the gravity of these risks clear as Jennings gets choked up remembering his friend and colleague, Rob Harris, with whom he pioneered aerial work in the X-Games for ESPN. Space Cowboy tells how Harris fell 5,000 feet to his death while mimicking a James Bond stunt for a Mountain Dew commercial when his parachute failed to open. Jennings, and his wife Sissy, can’t hide the strain these risks had on the family even through the thrill of the jump offered him an escape from depression.
Space Cowboy flies high with some exhilarating footage, but the doc really finds its footing when in Jennings’ reflections. For all the awe that Jennings’ aerial feats will inspire, Space Cowboy is most powerful for its exploration the ways in which families and friendships keep a person grounded. The falls are fleeting, but what’s on the ground lasts a lifetime.
