TT: Closer to the Edge (De Aragues, 2011) is streaming on DocPlay
Some of the streaming services available to us here in Aotearoa (and Australia) are such good value that I effectively have to throttle their appearances in this newsletter, lest they swamp all the other content.
DocPlay is one of these.
Just landed is TT: Closer to the Edge, a film that lasted a very short time in local cinemas but is seared on my memory – partly because it was a superb example of how 3D filmmaking could include you in a film. Implicate you even.
From my original Capital Times review when the film was released:
Biggest surprise of the week is the thrilling and dramatic TT3D: Closer to the Edge, a documentary about the 2010 Isle of Man TT motorcycle races focusing on affable maverick Guy Martin and his attempt to win a TT – which he believes is his destiny. The course is legendary for its danger but the riders are, to a man (and woman) philosophical about the risks – with some justification as almost half of the riders followed by the documentary will come a cropper during the event.
I actually found myself getting angry at how much TT3D was stressing me out. It is a genuine example of a white-knuckle experience – tense and emotional. Even if you don’t have an interest in motor sport you’ll be moved by this film – and if you do, you’ll be blown away.
The DocPlay presentation is not in 3D (obviously) but, remembering how effective this film was in the cinema, I do wonder what we’ve lost by discarding the format so easily.
Also featured in that September 2011 review are Florian Habicht’s festival favourite Love Story, Brendan Gleason and Don Cheadle as odd-couple Galway cops in The Guard, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone (pre-La La Land) stealing Crazy, Stupid, Love from Steve Carell and Julianne Moore, “arthouse version of the Hangover” Cedar Rapids, and Paul Bettany as a vampire hunter in Priest 3D.
