Psycho Vertical
classified 12APlease note: This was screened in April 2018
Winner of Best Climbing Film at the Banff Mountain film festival, this raw and intimate portrait of climber and alpinist Andy Kirkpatrick examines themes of identity, fatherhood and how our pasts shape us, against the backdrop of his incredible 18-day solo ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite.
Fear, obsession, destruction. Britain’s unlikeliest hero-mountaineer and funny-man, Andy Kirkpatrick, lives a life of conflicting desires and identities. Firmly grounded by his impoverished upbringing in 1970s Hull, from a young age Andy’s head had been in the clouds, filled with grand ideas of discovering who he is and what exactly he’s made of, spurred on by his father’s absence and translated into ascents of some of the world’s most dangerous alpine routes. Though he knows the pain of living in poverty, pursuing his dreams comes before making a living. A proud father, he cannot help but put ambition over security and his marriage, even if that means risking his life time and again - none more so than on his incredible solo ascent of the precarious big walls of the iconic El Capitan.
Offering intriguing insights, this feels much more than your run-of-the-mill climbing documentary. In an era of social media where professional athletes seem to be endlessly 'living the dream', this ‘warts and all’ portrait is a beautiful and complicated exploration of the complex life and motivations of one of the most controversial, unpredictable yet celebrated figures in UK climbing.