Critics reviews

Sunshine Superman is at times a bit too reverent with the material, and there are distracting reenactments (à la The Jinx and Man on Wire), some of which seem extraneous, but overall, the film is a sun-kissed tribute to a singular individual.

Riveting... “Sunshine Superman” might seem like a niche story, with its focus on stunts that most people wouldn’t dream of actually doing, but the documentary feels universal. It’s simply an examination of how one man fully embraced life while charting his own path.

The dramatic reenactments of events [eventually grew] pretty thick, which tried my patience; I also have to admit I found Jean Boenish's philosophical musings less than persuasive. And I don't think my fear of heights was the reason for my bias.

A thorough, intimate and often beautiful documentary... Sunshine Superman still can’t grasp the full splendor at the heart of the person and the extreme sport that serve as the film’s most plangent concern. And that isn’t necessarily the film’s fault... but it is something the film can’t get over.

Strauch's direction is numbingly uninspired, adhering stringently to the Doc. 101 assembly-line template cultivated by the film's executive producer Alex Gibney. This means a lot of on-the-nose and/or sentimentalizing musical cues (selections from Wagner's Tristan And Isolde; the Donovan ditty that gives the movie its name), as well as cheesy reenactments of key events meant to break up any talking-head monotony, but instead distract with their gauzy amateurism.

Letting her subject’s goofy charm be her guide, Strauch nimbly combines original 16mm footage and archival snippets with Boenish, his equally game and equally nerdy wife, Jean, and bemused news personalities of the era... with fresh interviews and artful dramatic re-creations to lively effect.

“Sunshine Superman” roils your stomach with spectacular shots... Yet the film, like its subject and everyone who talks about him, is frustratingly short on analysis or insight. It’s as if BASE jumping had been invented and psychology had not.

The film, by Marah Strauch, is really the story of two people, Boenish and his wife, Jean Boenish, who jumped with him and here acts as a candid guide to his career and thought process.

Perhaps the sheer preponderance of Boenish's self-shot footage is key to the effectiveness of Sunshine Superman. It's one thing to hear Boenish spouting inspirational platitudes about thinking outside societal boxes and following your bliss; it's quite another, however, to see the man himself putting his philosophies into mad practice, and moreover, to see his own filmed results as thrilling illustration.

Interviews with Boenish’s wife, Jean, give his life story perspective and heart... But elsewhere, Strauch tries too hard to turn her documentary into something it’s not, using Man on Wire-style caper reenactments to spice up a story that doesn’t require an ounce of extra seasoning.

You may not leave Sunshine Superman wanting to emulate Carl and Jean, but you will feel like you’ve vicariously bonded with them.

Strach's ultimate goal is to celebrate the gutsy, carpe-diem aspect of what Boenish and his fellow human hang gliders do. Sunshine Superman succeeds at that objective, majestically conveying the rewards of leaping into thin air thousands of feet above the ground.