Anne (Deragh Campbell) goes skydiving one day as a part of her friend’s bachelorette party, and she hasn’t quite been the same since. We get glimpses of the event as the film starts off, cutting between that life-changing moment, and her life as an employee at a daycare center. She’s a little awkward, some of her co-workers feel she isn’t doing the job the way it should be, she lives a relatively lonely life, clearly not as fulfilled as she probably envisioned for herself as she goes through her 20s. She can’t stop thinking about the dive, and she is desperate to feel the way she did that day.
This is the third feature from Canadian filmmaker, Kazik Radwanski, following his 2012 debut, Tower, and 2015’s How Heavy This Hammer. While I have yet to see those films, I do know that they are all low budget dramas with raw, character-centric sensibilities. The same applies to his new film, Anne At 13,000 Ft. It plays out in a way that I wouldn’t call conventional, going from moment to moment, like a collage that paints a picture of Anne, and her mindset as she tries to navigate the world ever since taking the dive.
In a sense the film is also about mental illness, but not in an afterschool special or preachy social issues drama kind of way. The film never makes clear exactly what Anne is struggling with, but it likely some form of anxiety, perhaps depression. The film is less about how she deals with it, so much as it is all about exploring the day-to-day experiences, which might sound dull on the surface, but the film is surprisingly captivating, allowing you to observe and empathize with this character in a way that doesn’t come across as either judgmental or invasive.
As such, it’s not the kind of film that offers easy answers or simple closure. It’s about putting you on level with this character, and experiencing things on an internal and external level. On a technical level, this is reflected by the intimate cinematography from Nikolay Michaylov, which puts an emphasis on closeups and and handheld camerawork. The editing is naturalistic, keeping things from being flashy, and making every necessary choice to make the film as psychologically immersive as it can possibly be. A major lack of music also helps in this regard. While some films that try similar things can often be hard to watch, whether intentional or not, this one feels more effortlessly compelling.
A huge part of the reason why Anne At 13,000 Ft. works so well is because of the central performance from Deragh Campbell. She is absolutely stellar in this. Throughout the film, I was reminded a little bit of Noah Hawley’s 2018 drama, Lucy In The Sky, starring Natalie Portman, which similarly dealt with the mental breakdown of sorts of a woman following an extraordinary experience. This film gets a lot right in places where that film missed the mark, often stylizing itself to such a degree that things don’t connect. While total naturalism isn’t always the right answer, the approach certainly works in the case of Kazik Radwanski’s modest character study. It’s a very solid, little drama, a deeply engrossing film, one that is realized with a great amount of empathy and care, and it’s portrayed in aching detail by its commanding lead. This is one worth putting on your radar.
Anne At 13,000 Ft. opens in select theaters starting September 3rd.