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Harrowing doc about Russian competitive gymnastics by Marta Prus
Dir/scr. Marta Prus. Poland/Germany/Finland. 2017. 73 min.
Of all its substantial merits, Marta Prus’ harrowing and thoroughly captivating sports doc Over The Limit is perhaps most surprising for its sustained bouts of misdirection. A former gymnast herself, the documentarian delivers the requisite expressions of passion, prowess and pain over a film that took five years to shoot. What is unexpexted is such guileful slight of hand. For these reasons and more, this terse portrait of Russian athlete Margarita Mamun will likely remain a hot ticket item with documentary programmers for the foreseeable future.
A tightly wound, painstakingly structured 73-minute documentary
The narrative follows the 20-year-old competitive gymnast to elite competitions in Russia, France, Israel, and Brazil, though you wouldn’t know it from any change in scenery. Prus’ unwavering camera remains fixed on the athlete as she cycles between competition...