Coming to theatres and to VOD today, Friday, November 11: DON’T LOOK DOWN
Daniel Gordon’s chronicle of Sir Richard Branson’s death-defying ballooning odysseys debuted at Tribeca this Spring. It also screened at the Newport Film Festival.
In 1987, not too long after Branson launched his upstart Virgin Airlines, he hit upon an out-of-the-box promotional idea: an attempt to beat the record for a cross-Atlantic hot air balloon journey, piloted by himself, a novice, and aided by veteran pilot Per Lindstrom – and, of course, plastering the Virgin logo on the giant balloon itself. A few years later, the savvy promoter attempted to recapture the buzz generated from that first, successful trip by ballooning across the Pacific – things didn’t go quite as smoothly, as recounted here. Despite the viewer knowing that, of course, Branson and Lindstrom survived these adventures, Gordon ably constructs an engaging, urgent retelling that serves up a nice amount of tension regardless, taking full advantage of access to breathtaking footage from the trips, archival materials from the press blitz, and interviews with the principals involved.
what (not) to doc 