Jean and Carl Boenish (Magnolia Pictures)

We’ve all wanted to turn our fear knobs down at some point in our lives, but what of those whose fear threshold skews in the other direction? Director Marah Strauch’s sometimes thrilling first feature Sunshine Superman tells the story of BASE jumping founder Carl Boenish, for whom the sight of a tall building or a steep cliff invoked a reaction that runs counter to most people’s: how can I jump from it?

Boenish was a strange character, a Christian Scientist full of life but also seemingly ready to destroy it at any moment. What makes this more than just the story of a daredevil is what he did with his passion: he made movies. While action thrillers like Mad Max: Fury Road keep you on the edge of your seats with movement along the horizon, Boenish’s exhilarating, terrifying footage was a different kind of motion picture, one that didn’t just move from side to side but straight up and down.

Early sections of the film show Boenish at a 16mm editing deck, which makes this a procedural on how to make scary home movies. I’m not particularly interested in skydiving—doing it or watching it—but Sunshine Superman is thrilling, not just from its subject’s charisma and death-defying feats, but from the inventive and terrifying process of filming a jump. For one shoot, Boenish built his own ladder, basically a black pipe with rungs, that he extended from the side of a cliff and rigged so he could get separation and, with nothing underneath him but air, shoot his fellow skydivers as they ran towards him and took a dive.

Amazingly, Boenish found a mate with whom to share his madness. Jean Boenish, as their friends admitted, looked more like a librarian than someone who’d jump off cliffs, but they took the plunge together in a shared insanity.

Viewers unfamiliar with Boenish’s story may not be aware of his fate, but you can guess what happened to him, and when the film spends an awful lot of time setting up a 1984 jump, you know it’s important for a reason. The narrative flags, but what makes this film so exciting is the footage that Boenish and his team captured, in which you see jumpers leap to uncertain fates with 16mm cameras rigged to their helmets. The movie’s period-appropriate soundtrack puts this madness squarely in the middle of ‘70s Top 40, with tracks from America and Sweet providing an added pop culture rush.

You wonder how Werner Herzog didn’t get his hands on this material first. Sunshine Superman suggests Grizzly Man in air.

First-time director Strauch, who plays Jean Boenish’s double in reenactments, found a great subject who happened to also be a good filmmaker as well. While most documentaries wouldn’t lose much impact if you watched them on your smartphone, Sunshine Superman’s death-defying footage is worth seeing on the big screen.

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Sunshine Superman
Written and directed by Marah Strauch
Rated PG for thematic elements, some language, smoking, a brief nude image and crazy people falling really fast.
Running time 100 minutes.
Opens today at Landmark E Street Cinema.