Review of TT3D: Closer to the Edge (2011) by Mike M — 02 Jul 2011

If there's been one theme running through 2011's higher-profile documentaries, it's been directors finding new ways to describe movement and space. Wim Wenders' "Pina" used 3D to plot the precision moves of its choreographer subject; Asif Kapadia's "Senna" knitted together decades' worth of archive footage to give a sense of a thrillseeker dashing towards an early grave - in 2D, this time.

"Closer to the Edge" feels rather like a combination of the two: it uses the new digital stereoscopic format to portray, in thrilling, near-mythic fashion, movement through space at near-unthinkable speeds.

(I know, it surprised me, too.)... Throughout, the use of 3D is clinical and precise, describing the curve of the track, the bends in each road, in much the same way Werner Herzog allowed us to better grasp the contours of the cave paintings in "Cave of Forgotten Dreams".

The third dimension here adds distance to speed, and gives the film an understanding of velocity: it changes our perception of those very elements crucial to the event, allows us to spot for ourselves just how easy it would be to come off the bike at a particular corner, and dutifully records the spectacular consequences when the riders do.

The Grim Reaper is surely a supporting player here, and he keeps popping out his scythe to tap the viewer on the shoulder, or to send another of the riders tumbling arse-over-tit into the abyss. Yet there is real compositional beauty is such tableaux as that which finds Guy Martin relaxing on the banks of a lake between practice sessions, or parked up in a van on the banks of rocky shore; a single static shot allows us a heightened appreciation of the calm around one of the island's churches, interrupted by a trio of chargers roaring past; another, of paint left behind on a cat's eye, retains a morbid, uncanny fascination.

"Closer to the Edge" deserves the success it's had because it's one of those films that throws the failings of its more expensive stereoscopic rivals into even sharper relief: how can a film assembled by enthusiasts on the Isle of Man manage to do something more elegant and dynamic with its 3D than the likes of "Clash of the Titans", "Alice in Wonderland" or "Green Lantern"?