Telluride at Dartmouth 2019 "The Climb"
This reinvention of the buddy comedy, with its fresh take on boozy showdowns and awkward laments, is endearingly strange and wholly original.
Kyle and Mike have been best friends since high school. Can their friendship survive a terrible breach? That question begins during a grueling uphill bike ride and continues through years of dynamic encounters at various weddings, funerals and bachelor parties.
Michael Angelo Covino's idiosyncratic and hilarious bromance, written with his co-star Kyle Marvin, follows a close but dysfunctional bond undergirded by a mutual genius for passive-aggressive sabotage and true cluelessness about women. These dopey men-children (and the titular bike climb) debuted in Covino's seven-minute Sundance short in 2017. Here he has expanded the premise with a genuine inventiveness that breathes new life into a tired trope. Made on a miniscule budget, the film features dazzlingly long takes that carry the story through time and space with nimble editing. Endearingly strange and wholly original, The Climb will keep you off balance with its unexpected mixture of sweetness and cruelty. It won the Un Certain Regard Heart Prize at Cannes 2019.
