Part of what can make or break a documentary is your choice of subject, and in telling the story of Carl Boenish, a skydiver who's credited as being one of the pioneers and inventors of BASE jumping, Sunshine Superman is off to a great start. It's not just that Boenish is a good choice for subject, mind you, although he definitely is; even setting aside his life and accomplishments, he's funny, charming, charismatic, and just generally makes for a great subject. No, what really makes Boenish such a great choice for a documentary was his obsessive efforts to film his skydives and jumps, a choice that fills Sunshine Superman with some truly awe-inspiring, vertigo-inducing film work throughout its running time. From sitting on a pole that's jutting out of a cliff to plummeting out of a skyscraper, Boenish's footage is exciting, overwhelming, and beautifully shot, and it's a huge part of what makes Sunshine Superman work as well as it does. As a documentary, the film has some bigger problems, especially an over-reliance on bad re-enactments that work so hard to cover up the faces of their actors that all you can think about is how distracting the obfuscation methods are. But setting that aside, Sunshine Superman is an engaging watch, and even apart from that, its existence is justified by the truly incredible footage it brings to a much wider audience.
- Josh Mauthe
- Josh Mauthe
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