A character study in the absolute purest sense, Anne at 13,000 Ft. doesn’t even have the kind of satisfying closure one would expect from any story, nor does it explain anything about its protagonist’s difficult, erratic behavior in the context of mental health. It’s an exercise in testing how much empathy a character can earn solely on account of their being a human being having a hard time. Appropriately, the filmmaking on display makes for a deliberately uncomfortable experience, with tension ratcheting up in practically every given situation, enhanced by the fact that director Kazik Radwanski and star Deragh Campbell improvised much of the movie as they were making it.
"A nursery worker finds inner peace through skydiving in writer/director Kazik Radwanski's invigorating character study."
— Charles Bramesco
"Campbell and Denkers create an incredibly relatable mother-daughter chemistry, and their relationship subtly hints at a history of emotional turmoil without spelling out what may have happened in the past."
— Susannah Gruder
Anne hasn't been the same since the jump. While skydiving for her best friend Sarah's bachelorette party, the 27-year-old felt focused, free, above it all. Back on the ground, the pressures of her daily life threaten to overwhelm her.
After skydiving for the first time, a woman who works at a daycare center struggles to go about her daily life and interactions.
Whatever previous experience Deragh Campbell has with improv pays off in spades here, as her Anne comes off as both a believable, cohesive character and a completely unpredictable force of nature. And even if the film never defines what it is Anne is suffering from, Campbell still makes sure to define her beyond any hypothetical mental illness. She's still a sweet, sincere person at heart, but whose desperation to maintain a grip on different social situations causes her to act in a way that ends up scaring or stressing out those around her. The film doesn't provide particularly constructive information about its subject matter, but it definitely works as an experience in itself.
Me, every time Anne begins an ordinary task: why do I hear boss music?
