Super Mario Parkour

The new short film 2D Run is a visual masterpiece.

Parkour has undergone something of a renaissance in the past few years becoming a worldwide phenomenon. Every major (and minor) city is a new adventure for a parkour artist and this video by some Bulgarian athletes prove this fact. However, the genius of this video isn’t in the parkour itself, despite being immensely impressive, it is in the quirky cinematography.

Reminiscent of a Super Mario game, the entire video is shot from above giving a birds-eye view of the runners as they challenge themselves in countless different environments from urban to snow to cow-filled fields. It feels as though you are playing a video game and controlling the character and, what’s more, it bizarrely gives you a sensation of vertigo as it feels as though you are in the runners’ shoes.

The shots are cut together beautifully as the environments seamlessly intertwines and the short film becomes one flowing, continuous run. Additionally, the Super Mario element is played with more than once as, at one stage, the runner collects coins that have been superimposed on the backdrop with the nostalgic ding sound playing each time one is run into.

It’s an enormously fun video to watch, all set to a boppy, 8-bit-esque soundtrack. Have a watch here and enjoy.