User Reviews

I greatly enjoyed the way "The Climb" was filmed, with its complicated tracking shots and eccentric musical interludes. But I couldn't stand the characters in it and I didn't care at all about their story, so it's a shame so much style was wasted on lame material.

The movie examines the relationship between two buddies and ponders why one of them, Kyle (played by Kyle Marvin), puts up with the other, Mike (played by Michael Angelo Corvino), despite the fact that he is a complete jerk and ruins moment after moment of Kyle's life. The answer to that question, as the movie disingenuously concludes, is that Mike is the only person who knows what's best for Kyle, and though he's been nothing but a toxic presence for the entire length of the film, he's been right all along. Ugh, give me a break.

I don't have any patience at all for the man children Marvin and Corvino bring to life in this movie. Corvino especially, doing his best Casey Affleck impersonation, is intolerable. Clearly we're supposed to find him maybe at times frustrating but overall charming, which justifies woman after woman finding him irresistible even though he's repulsive, and which is why Marvin's doormat character can't tell him to take a flying leap. The problem is that Corvino is never as funny and charming to us as he thinks he is to himself. It's no surprise that he co-wrote the film with Marvin and directs it. Someone with more distance from the character needed to take the reins of this movie if we were to have any sympathy for him.

I actually liked quite a few moments in this movie, but more because of how they were staged than because of what was happening in them. It's a movie full of wasted potential.

Grade: B-

Saw this at fhe Film Festival Munich 2019 (in German: Film Fest München). An intriguing collection of nice finds, augmenting the at-first-sight downthrodden path of triangle relationships where two men compete for one woman, but there is so much more at that. A parallel topic is male bonding, said to be stronger than between man and wife but even so often falsified, but nevertheless working out surprisingly here in a very original way. We watch a series of separate stories, mostly some time passed in between, each having the same two men as center of attention. Each chapter carries a specific title, foreshadowing what we are going to see as dramatic development(s). For instance, in the first chapter with the title "I'll kill you!" comes to light that one of the men had a sexual relationship with the fiancée of the other one (no fatalities, however, despite the title of this chapter).

That said, I would have preferred that each of the chapters was introduced not only with an intriguing title but also with some context and a time frame. A spoiler-free example of the latter is the start of chapter 2. We obviously attend a funeral, but I was left too much time wondering who and why. Th "who" question is answered implicitly when the funeral leader invites "her husband" to say something. The "why" remains unanswered, and ditto how much time elapsed between chapter 1 and 2. The chapter ends in a very unusual way, when the husband gets into a fight with churchyard personnel around a shovel. Expect more such unexpected turns of events in this movie. This is one of its trademarks.

My feeling that I had to grasp for context happened similarly with subsequent chapters, where new protagonists were thrown on us without telling who-was-who. Nevertheless, the respective stories become clear after some time to get acquainted. Most important aspect of this movie is that the turns of events are unexpected and ample humor is included, contrasting with the also prevalent sadder moments. It all makes up a perfect mix. In other words, just like real-life outside the cinema runs its course, with ups and downs, and for better or for worse.

When ignoring the flaws in storytelling (assuming these flaws are real and not just my fault), watching this movie is a rewarding experience, not the least of the humor-riddled dialogs. Take for instance a "how long" question in the opening chapter, that was answered "still 2 miles", obviously not the assumed answer how long the offending sexual relationship had lasted. And the "I'll kill you!" exclamation was not to be taken literally, as we can see when the front cyclist hits a passing car, triggering its driver to leave the car and tries to attack him. The ranks are closed very fast in their combined effort to contain the angry car driver, and the earlier death threat is forgotten on the spot.

All in all, each of the chapters has its own merits, are well written and treat relevant situations and real people with real attitudes and opinions. The stories are diverse in topic and show different people in different circumstances, sharing our two main protagonists as common denominator. Indeed, their connection and their chemistry remain the central theme throughout the running time. Seeing them go through all these phases and events makes watching this movie a memorable experience.

I actually really enjoyed this & although it was a bit silly in places, there was enough abstract bits & random obscure French & Ukrainian pop music to keep me interested. Great soundtrack.

The Climb is in some way a pessimistic looking at some friendships, but showing that the most important element in it can be just trustworthiness. Someone's best friend can be a cheater, but when you need him/her you can count on him/her without doubt. It is very refreshing American comedy and for sure you can enjoy in those 94 min with lot a laugh and music. If I may notice, the author adores French songs. Also, it is nice to see a dynamic camera movement and unforgettable is the scene where Kyle is performing a pole dance to the song "Lullaby". It's brilliant!

Michael Angelo Covino's directorial debut is a small indie dramedy about two friends, Mike (whom he plays) and Kyle. They have a lasting friendship and a variety of shared interests including cycling, but things start to get dicey right off the bat in the film's opening chapter when Mike reveals that he's having an affair with Kyle's fiancee. The rest of the film is essentially a bunch of vignettes of their personal, and evolving romantic lives. It's cut in several chapters, most of which have very few takes. While this creates some moderately engaging cinematography within the context of a very low-budget indie dramedy, the rest of the film is sadly rather bland and forgettable.

As leading characters, Kyle and Mike aren't especially all that interesting. Kyle is the more redeeming one, with a more impactful yet still modest home and familial life; whereas Mike's flaws are abundantly clear even well past his affair. While they both are developed, they're not especially that interesting. The chemistry between them on screen is fine, but it's not too engaging. Their characterizations don't feel especially original, much less anything we haven't seen before. It seems that Covino's message is that viewers should understand that even their close friends can make major mistakes and are very flawed, but he doesn't do an especially unique or original job trying to get this point across over the course of the story. While we know that Mike is not trustworthy, the plot doesn't end up really reflecting this in the way it should on how Kyle's personality evolves over the course of the story. The film's down-to-earth script has a few mildly funny moments here and there as well as a more serious side, but the effectiveness of the various situations the characters find themselves in (biking together, a funeral, celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with family, a wedding, and so forth) aren't really made more impactful by the dialogue. The film is paced briskly and edited well, but its formulaic character development and not-completely-engaging plot makes the film's narrative run out of gas a bit before the credits roll. Since the film is a character-driven piece, it doesn't really captivate the viewer at all since we're never especially captivated by the characters or how the writing defines them to be. Overall, this was a fine and passable independent comedy-drama, but it doesn't quite justify the acclaim it received from Sundance back in January. 6/10

Michael Angelo Covino's The Climb is intricate in its simplicity; it opens on a long stretch of time where, at a glance, little happens outside of two cyclists having a conversation. But the camera never cuts away, the actors don't miss a single beat, and the emotions grow tenser and tenser as a revelation is made and other parts of the film's universe begin to interact with their uninterrupted ride.

Lengthy takes are not inherently an impressive feature, of course. I often argue that artists like Harmony Korine and Matthew Barney might fancy themselves worthy of Jodorowsky, Buñuel, or Brakhage just because they emulate the "weirdness", not realizing that those filmmakers translated legitimate ideas into eccentric surrealism and didn't just hope surrealism by itself would eventually "say something" (more on that in a future post). Similarly, someone like Gus Van Zant may have thought he was the next Tarkovsky, Kubrick, or Tarr because he made a really dang slow movie once. The Climb is hardly so thoughtless.

One of many 2019 films that I missed for my end-of-the-year retrospective, its delayed wide release allows me to cheat a little and praise it as one of the 2020 greats. Of course, COVID was unkind enough to the film as it is, but the fact that Googling the title mainly yields results for a Miley Cyrus song is the cherry on top - originality is harder and harder to find.

We meet Kyle and Mike (writer Kyle Marvin; writer-director Covino) and watch as their once-tight friendship begins to change upon the discovery that one has been sleeping with the other's fiancee. There are several uninterrupted scenes like the one I described above; lengthy takes where things subtly escalate, as the characters grow more uncomfortable (as do the eventual extras) and the camera shifts its perspective in meticulous but not excessively noticeable ways.

There is a particularly uncomfortable party scene where there are even more moving cogs and ongoing subplots (many involving a superb Gayle Rankin as "the new girlfriend"), yet everything within the take is still flawlessly coordinated - even the family dog is on cue! I adored this movie the way I did last year's Climax, but that one managed to descend all the way to madness while still being well-choreographed.

"Uncomfortable" is a good word - the film is a prime example of both cringe comedy (Boy, does it get darkly humourous at points!) and just plain awkwardness. The story is well-told and keeps you guessing as to what will go wrong next, who will get cut, by whom, and how deep. The writing, grooming, costuming, and acting do wonders to let us know a substantial amount of time has passed between two given scenes; we can see these people are barely who they used to be.

Without giving too much away, I will say that The Climb is quite an ironic title (then again, a climb doesn't strictly need to involve "going up"). You will find yourself in the pits if you watch it, but you will almost certainly admire the experience on a technical level - subdued as it may look next to a Hollywood spectacle or in-your-face buddy comedy. This isn't just about two friends; it's about friendship, and the things we must question about the connections we find. But on the other hand, if reducing the film to "bros vs. hoes and also there's alcohol" ensures more people will see it... Is the top result still the Miley song?

When talking about the World War I drama 1917, some critics have cited The Climb as a superior example of shooting impressively long takes, not only because 1917 used VFX to conceal its cuts and so maintain the "single take" illusion. While I enjoyed 1917, which is more epic in scale and would've been impossible to nail in one go, few things compare to the real deal.

I was expecting the usual indie film, lacking in execution and with a sloppy and forgettable story. I was instead very surprised, as it has many inventive ideas and the script is well written. It is splitted in 7 parts and each chapter is like a long uninterrupted shot, with very few cuts in the middle. This make the story flow very nicely.

The friendship between Mike and Kyle will be tested a lot, but they always manage to reconcile, no matter what. The title of this movie is just perfect. For the whole time I had the feeling that this relation is a really difficult climb on a hill that will never end, and eventually finish where the two friends will just give up on each other. In the end things will be fixed, and finally we see the descent. This small indie project does not have a big budget, nor important names casting on it, however it delivers a nice story and a thoughtful narrative. There are here and there some sequences that are just a little bit too long and boring, but it is just one hour and a half long, so honestly not a big deal and I wouldn't cut anything out.

Among all these independent films, this is surprisingly good: characters are deepen, and you can easily bound with the two protagonists, it has a some good funny moments and overall is a simple and enjoyable movie. I personally recommend it, especially if you are searching for a light-hearted watch.

IF 2 straight men Could be a couple these guys should be . real life is messy and this is no exception . this film shows a friendship more serious than some marriages. 1 man everyone loves the other is like that relative that doesn't usually get invited to parties and everyone knows why but together they show us what best friends are.

A pitch-perfect comedy-drama from start to finish, The Climb is a funny, intelligent, organic and touching tale of friendship. Dealing with a sobering yet equally farcical story that lasts over many years, the film is full of honest emotion, and somehow manages to deliver a sprawling story of a lifetime in a very short space of time.

And that's where I want to start, because while there's a lot about The Climb that's really impressive, the way that it feels almost like an epic is incredible. Running for less than 100 minutes, most films would struggle to tell a more contained story, let alone one that spans such a long timeframe.

However, as it moves through the years in impressively organic fashion, The Climb is able to bring a greater scale to its story, and as such brings greater stakes and significance to the table as well. The ups and downs of Mike and Kyle's friendship aren't just a blip in time, but a major part of their entire lives.

Along with the two fantastic lead performances and excellent writing, you really feel like you know these two characters inside out, and though their relationship may be far from perfect as time goes by, you sympathise strongly with both of them from beginning to end.

Another impressive characteristic of The Climb is its minimalist style. It's not obnoxiously minimalist like many mumblecore movies, but it's able to tell a sprawling story of a lifetime without ever following generic tropes of the epic format.

The film is able to pack its story into such a concise runtime because of the way it uses organic dialogue to such great effect throughout. As we jump through time between different vignettes, the screenplay explains what has happened in the last few years or however long with just a couple of words offhand from a character that feels entirely natural to the situation at hand.

There's no clunky exposition or drawn-out narration, but rather succinct and brilliantly organic dialogue that helps what could have been a regularly abrupt series of time shifts flow so nicely.

That structural flow is also helped by the movie's camerawork, which pulls the Birdman trick of using long, long, long takes where the camera flies around the characters for minutes on end without a single cut.

The whole movie isn't a one-shot story like Birdman, but each of its vignettes are more or less made up of a main single shot that lasts for a long time. However, in tandem with its elegant screenplay and flowing structure, that visual style works really nicely, and only adds to the film's brilliantly organic nature.

The screenplay itself is both funny and touching, with humour that made me laugh on a consistent basis, but that never cheapened the real depth and gravity of the story being told here.

The movie looks at the story of a toxic friendship as a sobering farce, with the almost unrelenting nature of Mike's terrible behaviour becoming so bad that it's actually funny. And yet, even when the story seems to be beating you over the head with a rather heavy dose of dark humour, there's a really touching, positive message at its core.

Finishing on a wonderful high note, The Climb proves that you sometimes have to go through the worst of times to end up in the right place, and its sprawling feel makes that resonate all the more strongly. With excellent performances, gorgeous cinematography, an intelligent and funny screenplay and a brilliantly organic style, it's an undeniably captivating movie which always has its heart in the right place.

Biking through the French countryside, Mike waits for a gruelling climb to offhandedly mention his affair with Kyle's wife to be. Struggling to keep pace, a stunned Kyle is furious and winds up running up the hill to confront his soon to be ex-best man. Soon they are in hospital, where things spiral further out of control. This orchestrated moment of comedic tragedy defines their lifelong relationship, and a rather enjoyable film.

Co-stars and co-writers Kyle Marvin and Michael Covino (who also directs), pull off their push pull brotherly love-hate relationship effortlessly enough to raise suspicion these may not be fictional events. As the obvious heel in the picture, Mike revisits his childhood buddy from time to time, wreaks havoc to whatever situation he insists himself in, tries to make misguided amends, then disappears until his next untimely resurrection. A hard character to love, an easy one to punch, Mike does sprinkle a few redeeming qualities to always leave a crack in the door. Everyone knows someone like this, or knew. The human nature of second chances is put to the test: who opens that crack, and who slams it shut?

Ambitiously shot in several long take chapters, "The Climb" has a down to earth, visceral quality which makes entry into the complicated and inviting Kyle and Mike dynamic an easy one.

"The Climb" is just that, the hill of life everyone struggles with, and sometimes, no matter how potentially destructive, friendship is all anyone craves. A fetching soundtrack doesn't hurt.

• hipCRANK

Was looking forward to this based on the plot and reviews. You don't get hugely invested in the characters. It has some good moments but tried pretty hard to be Coen Brothers esque.

The Climb starts off fun, over the top. But it becomes a tedious, boring affair. The characters are so unlikable and such absolute idiots. If the leads had died half way through the film and a completely new movie had started, I would have applauded.

Some friendships are quite special. Exhausting and terrible at times, but have worked for so many years that they may have developed a dangerous situation that both individuals may not be able to escape from ... but why would they want to you may ask? Is a great friend not everything you can ask for? Maybe and maybe not is the answer, I reckon.

In this case it is not just about friends, it is about what they do to each other and relationships outside their own one. Like with a life partner - not going to say they should share everything ... do not even think that. But you will see through family dysfunction and other oddities ... a low budget movie that can be quite engaging if you let it. Especially if you really roll with the flow of it and with the characters ... no matter how flawed they are .... and a movie that sort of almost ends like it begins ... with one friend not being able to control his emotions and ... well you'll see how others react to that! Not holding back "punches" - as I am not holding back on puns!

Good direction and interesting story, but nothing really sticks.

There's lots of different types of comedies to enjoy, and what makes this one refreshing is how it doesn't work hard to make you laugh. In fact I watched most of this film with a constant smile instead of a handful of belly busting laughs.

The real masterpiece here though was the camera work and the ability of the actors to be able to do long scenes with no cuts. Any film that employs few cuts always feels easy to watch for me. I find cuts mentally exhausting. This film is easy on the eyes, with the camera following characters through rooms and on long walks or bike rides. Sometimes the camera is on characters in one room then moves to characters in another room. It made this film feel whole and authentic.

That's right. It's an indie gem disguised as a Hollywood bromance. Expectations might get some people confused, first by the style itself, casual and prioritizing shocking value over realism, then by the harsh depiction of the friendship, defined by some as "toxic". A story about being accepted for who you truly are would be lame (not to mention untrue) if you actually were what you think you are.

No, both characters are deeply flawed, one of them unafraid to unleash the jerk in him, as often happens when someone hits rock bottom, or is about to do so. Meanwhile, the other one is comically submissive. To me this only makes the characters funnier and more memorable.

At one point the movie explains how sometimes you can do well by doing something wrong, and vice versa. And that much is true, beware of people who are all smiles. But it goes deeper than that. The wedding scene serves as a conclusion to that premise. If someone disagrees with that statement I think it would be healthy to acknowledge it first.

Men approaching middle-age, things and people are far from easy, but they might be just fine. It's basically a simple feel-good movie but in style and dealing knowledgeably with a subject that should be talked about more. It is unreasonably difficult for older men to make meaningful friends.

Just a really well made film about life and friendship that has great writing, cinematography, performances and characters that have a lot of heart and leave an impression on you. great moobie

There is a lot to like. The performances are great (especially the supporting cast) and the dialogue is economic and quietly amusing. There are no wasted scenes as we transition through several episodes over the course of several years to watch our two lead men tussle with a difficult friendship.

The camerawork is excellent, full of fluid scenes that are nicely blocked and visually engaging. It feels like they put time and effort into rehearsal.

The humour is darkly subtle. I found it very funny. It makes some strong references to Claude Sautet and, whilst not in his league, the ambition to reach those heights is on full display. Enough to make me want to keep an eye on writer/director Covino.

The biggest flaw is that, as a story about friendship, we never really get to see the friendship prior to the plot. We start immediately with their dilemma. This is good for viewer engagement as the story kicks off from the very first scene, but I never felt like I knew how the friends became close, or why.

That's not enough to stop from enjoying what's on offer here. It's got style and it clearly isn't brainless. It's a well-made, very amusing film from a promising director.

Everything about this film screams "independent." This usually means that the director, screenwriter and lead actor are all one person who can't do anything right, and the result looks correspondingly unfinished. In addition, there are other actors who look like amateurs or are, dialogues are often borderline in the case of a comedy, camera and lighting adapt to the low or now budget feeling. The Climb has all that and I'm just tired of such half-finished, late-pubescent ideas that neither have pace, nor develop real humor or a gripping story.

This might not be for everyone, especially if you expect a crazy comedy or a sad drama.

But for those of you who enjoy a slow build and can walk the line between dry humor and realistic tragedies, then you are in for a treat.

Disclaimer, I had no expectations about this movie, and that might have contributed to the element of surprise. But even so, I think this is a very simple story, toled in a very unique way. Some might think it is rather pretentious, which I can see why you would think that. But I find it to be an interesting way of visual storytelling, and in my opinion is serves the plot and the humor of the story.

I think it's an amusing, creative and artistic movie, and I wish to see more filmmakers taking these sorts of risks with their work in the near future.

The Climb follows two friends and looks into their lives over several years. It's a clear cut, shining example of what a toxic relationship between two people looks like. One a decent, standup man and all around good person and the other a complete leech of a man who's actions destroys seemingly everything around him. There is some legit abuser/abusee vibes that are nailed by Covino and Marvin wonderfully here. It's called The Climb because Michael breaks the news to Kyle that he slept with his fiancée as they're biking up a steep slope. No spoiler there, that's in the trailer. How does a friendship recover from that? From that bombshell, the story progresses and how the progression of time is handled is masterfully done. The choices of when to pull us out of the scene before a time jump are brilliantly done, sometimes to comedic effect, and sometimes for intentional frustration.

This movie is directed smoothly by Michael Angelo Covino. There's great tracking shots, great long takes, the inventiveness of the transition of time; the utter fluidity of this movie is gorgeous. That's the best word I can think of to describe the directing here: it's fluid as all hell and it seems like the camera never stops moving unless its to focus on a particular object or interaction but that constant movement is never distracting. It brings us into the scene and keeps us interested in the scene, it lets our eye wander over things happening in the foreground, in the background, it's immersive at times. Acting wise, Mike and Kyle play their parts excellently, as well as Gayle Rankin who really holds this film down and does a good portion of the heavy lifting. If you love Gayle Rankin in GLOW like I did, you're going to love her turn here, she's amazing.

The thing that this movie is lacking, the weakest part of the film, is the good times. That's what sticks out like a sore thumb in this movie is the fact that we don't get to see any of the good times that endear Kyle to Michael, that explains the overall nature of their friendship; we see a lot of branches and leaves but we don't see any of the roots. We're almost never shown a reason Kyle should have any reason to miss Michael during the time gaps or why Kyle should be so willing to fold Michael into his bosom. Along those same lines, the fact that never once does Michael face any real accountability for his selfishness is a drawback as well. It's a neverending cycle of abuse with no accountability and that's shown all throughout this movie. The closest we get to anyone calling out Michael for his actions is Kyle's mother and that was a fairly feeble attempt. Is this a movie about a dude who can't not make things about him and refuse to acknowledge his own toxicity or is this a movie about a dude who no matter what will still find forgiveness and welcome his friend back into his life? I'm not sure, I'm guessing it's a little column A, a little column B.

If you're down to watch a complicated, messy relationship that is at times maddening and at times absolutely hilarious, The Climb is right up your alley. I'm really glad I took the time to check it out and hopefully you will too.

If you enjoy movies that are dull and boring you should definitely watch this one. It was mostly fast forwarding for me, I have to admit. And I'm not too picky. I picked up the story and it kind of was OK, but then again your own life could be just as exciting or dull, so better find something more engaging too watch.

The biggest takeaway from this film is the presentation and the characters. The story revolves around two friends over the span of x amount of years. So the structure is divided into "chapters." With each chapter you see the main characters age, gain/lose weight. It would appear as if it were actually made in the span of a few years.

The way these chapters are presented is in one long take until the chapter ends. For example, at a Christmas get-together, you follow one of the main characters being welcomed into a house for a night of festivities. The camara will track the character from the exterioir of the house greeting every friend and family member. You are able to see whats happening by looking into the windows of the house, and it leads into said character going to the backyard to have a smoke. Theres alot of bicycling so the camara is always flowing, its rarely ever still. Brilliant presentation. The cinematography, for this reason, is outstanding.

The dynamic between the two main characters is so interesting. Think "you are the worst influence in my life and you stab me in the back many times... but you've also been with me for my lows and you are my best friend." Its very interesting to see how these characters get through life and you really start to feel for them.

I definetly recommend "The Climb"

I like the way The Climb is made, it's basically a collection of a long-shot scenes, telling the story of the two leads with questionable characters, and their friendships over the years. For the most part, it's cleverly written, and there are a lot of funny moments, but some jokes are a bit crude. The acting is okay, though the low-budget is really showing and you can clearly see it, but it still well shots regardless. It's written and directed by the two leads, and i guess they're friend in real life.