26,000 Days
2024 · 9m
Directed by Henry Behel
Genres: biography, documentary, sports
Tones: contemplative, tender
Airshow pilot Eric Tucker executes death-defying stunts in a plane built for much less, captured with surf-film grace in a documentary about grabbing life by the horns.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
It's a doc about a guy doing loop-de-loops—competent, sure, but the premise doesn't push back against anything; the 'grab life by the horns' energy is exactly what we expect from airshow coverage, and that's the problem.
The surf-film vernacular applied to aviation stunt work shows formal awareness and a clear visual lineage, though the tonal earnestness lands closer to lifestyle doc than the kind of structural or editorial risk that lingers in the mind.
The decision to shoot this with surf-film grammar—handheld, intimate, built around breath and silence instead of engine roar—is the specific choice that transforms what could've been standard sports coverage into something that trusts the viewer to sit with fear and vulnerability.
Reviews
Taking an almost surf film-like approach, the doc depicts Tucker with a calm, graceful aura as he takes to the skies to execute death-defying stunts in a plane built for much less.