by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $13.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
William Corlett
Intro:
As inspirational as its tone and foundation, the film’s strongest moments are when things start going pear-shaped.
On 23 June 2024, after months of preparation and planning, 20-year-old amateur marathon runner William Corlett began a feat that sounds exhausting just reading it in sheer numbers. Following a self-drawn trail that traced back and forth across the ranges of the Blue Mountains, he planned to run just over 500 kilometres over seven days, raising money for LifeLine Australia along the way.
Romain Mongin, making his directorial debut after years of editing (including the recent Changing Track), lets mad lad Will and the Blue Mountains themselves share equal footing as the main characters. The jocular and endearingly larrikin demeanour shared by Will and his team of old school mates ground their lofty and daunting shared goal with a welcoming air of mateship. They are presented, and serve as examples of, that Aussie ideal that good mates can get you through any rough patch, even if that patch is so dense with foliage that it resembles a jungle more than a trail.
Through a combination of handheld iPhone footage, GoPros, and truly stunning time-lapse shots, the visuals certainly sell the surrounding environment. Mongin and co-editor Ryan Worsman allow all those vistas and candid wind-down moments to flow as steadily as one of the many creeks that Will has to traverse in his quest. The specific choice of shots can sometimes feel askew, as the film would seemingly benefit from sticking much closer to Will while on the trail than it ultimately does, but in squeezing a week’s worth of adventure into just 80 minutes, they do an admirable job.
As inspirational as its tone and foundation, with Will wanting to give a cinematic shot in the arm for others to get out and connect with wilderness, the film’s strongest moments are when things start going pear-shaped. There are initial scraps behind the planning, with moments of bad timing and management leading to exasperated (but still laidback) reactions. But at a certain point, Will is clearly going through the wars. Sleep deprived, scraped to the first layer, working through injuries from days past; the film taps directly into that scattered mindstate to pull the audience right into his trials. It is palpable and tough to watch, but in a way that benefits the film overall; showing him at such a low, and with such vulnerability, making his gradual victories so effective.
King of the Mountains is a well-cut and inviting look at one hell of an ambitious kid. The down-to-earth attitude shared by the on-screen subject and the cinematic framing around him pulls the extreme footrace out of the realms of exceptional and legendary, into something that can be done (albeit with difficulty) by mates sticking together. There’s a distinctly Aussie approach to it that brings it all together into a solid showing of what can be done with a bit of elbow grease and some strategically-placed vaseline.
