The Fall, an elaborate and beautiful fairytale of a film, is one that you should know about and be anticipating every bit as much as the other films coming out this summer–but chances are pretty good that you haven’t heard of it. In one of those serendipitous moments of discovery I recently clicked on a link for the trailer on Movie-List dot com and was undone.
See for yourself:
Are you intrigued?
The Fall tells the tale of a young girl, Alexandria, hospitalized for a broken arm who wanders out of her room to discover Roy Walker. Roy begins to regale her with a fascinating tale of adventure and romance and we, along with Alexandria, get to witness that tale unfold. As the movie progresses we realize that Roy’s intentions may not be as altruistic as they appear and, like Alexandria, we wait in anticipation of the next chapter of the story, wondering if Roy Walker will allow this darling child to save him from himself.
The Fall, as described by N.Y. Times critic Nathan Lee, was “shot piecemeal over the course of four years on locations in 18 countries, and paid for out of the pocket of its co-writer and director, Tarsem Singh…” Tarsem is perhaps best known as a music video director for his award-winning video for R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” and for his beautifully rendered but critically panned directorial debut, The Cell. Nathan Lee continues his review of the film thus:
“The Fall is a genuine labor of love — and a real bore.”
And there in lies the quandary when it comes to recommending The Fall–like the results of the last presidential election, the critics across the nation seem to be divided red-state/blue-state fashion over whether this film is a brilliantly realized dream or a lovely incomprehensible mess.
Roger Ebert opens his review: “Tarsem’s The Fall is a mad folly, an extravagant visual orgy, a free-fall from reality into uncharted realms. Surely it is one of the wildest indulgences a director has ever granted himself.” and then goes on to rave about nearly every aspect of the film. I tend to side with Roger on this one.
The reason I suggested that The Fall might not be familiar to you can be summed up with a brief description of my experience in seeing it. This past Thursday evening Jeff and I went to the 7:05 p.m. showing of the film–we were the only two people in the theater. On a couple of occasions what appeared to be staff came in just to take a peek, evidently in awe that two guys were actually viewing the film. It’s opening week box office numbers bear out the fact that it is not making wild amounts of money and will most likely disappear from the theatrical venue quite soon. Which is a real shame. This is a delightful, engaging film that is both visually stunning throughout and provides captivating performances by its two leads: Lee Pace (of Pushing Daisies fame) and young Romanian actress Catinca Untaru.
I have thoroughly enjoyed Lee Pace in the series Wonderfalls and in the brief series run of Pushing Daisies, so he was certainly a draw for me to see The Fall. What will make me buy the DVD is the performance of Catinca Untaru. She was a darling! Every moment she was on screen she lit the scene up…she practically glowed. With her missing front teeth and unpretentious manner she stole my heart from the moment she arrived on screen. How anyone could watch The Fall and not be enchanted with her is beyond my understanding. Small performances by the ethereally beautiful Justine Waddell, and fun dual role performances by Jeetu Verma, Leo Bill, Marcus Wesley, Robin Smith and others round out a very well cast film.
Adult fairy tale stories are certainly a hard sell. By making this a rated “R” film and including some violent imagery Tarsem closes the door on the audience that may have made his film a box office hit. By doing so Tarsem preserves the integrity of the film he was trying to make and gives adults seeking a different movie experience something not only beautiful to look at but something with a beautiful message to ponder when leaving the theater.
One thing critics seem to agree on is that the film is a stunning vision to behold. Roger Ebert indicates that the movie was filmed without the use of computer-generated effects which makes the experience that much more dazzling to behold. The tragedy of The Fall‘s predicted (by me) quick exit from theaters is that this is a movie that needs to be seen in this large format. The locations themselves are gorgeous and the film is beautiful. I was amazed by so many of the scenes in the film, particularly when Walker was spinning his fantastical yarn. At times the story reminded me of The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen, so critical comparisons to film maker Terry Gilliam are right on the mark.
I can understand the film’s lukewarm reception by some critics. It is not paced like a Hollywood film and as such could seem “boring” or “messy”. I did not experience that myself. I was drawn in from the opening frame and enjoyed every step of the journey. I was mesmerized by the visuals, enchanted with Pace and Untaru, and was delighted by the end result of what Tarsem accomplished. Adding to my overall enjoyment of the film was the fact that the orchestral arrangement of “Figlio Perduto” was featured prominently in the film. I know little about this (googling seems to indicate it is part of Beethoven’s 7th symphony) other than that it is an operatic arrangement performed by Sarah Brightman on several of her CD and concert DVD releases and is one of my favorites. In fact I threw Sarah Brightman’s Classics CD into the player and listened to it several times on the way home from the theatre. You can hear parts of the song in the trailer.
To sum up I think Nathan Lee got part of it right–The Fall is indeed a labor of love and I think that is evident in each and every frame of the film. I cannot guarantee that you will love it like I did–a person’s reaction to magical films like this is just too hard to predict. What I can guarantee is that you will be visually enraptured and that young Alexandria, the bandit, will steal your heart.
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Remember that Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Etsy Week Prize Pack? Well…just in case you don’t:
It is time to give that away!!!
Using the latest in mad science technology the names of those who participated in all 4 Etsy Week days were printed off, separated, and tossed randomly into the Great Bowl of Chance. After much mixing to ensure randomness to within +/- .001, the Great Hand of Fate reached in and determined that these lovely items will find their new home with….
Congratulations, Elaine!
Lest anyone despair, allow me to offer you some hope. One of the more delightful things about shopping via Etsy is that you are almost assured of getting marvelous little extras with your order. I have thankfully began to amass a pile of swag from some of my favorite Etsy creators and some of that swag is going to be passed on to you.
We are entering the home stretch in the Once Upon a Time II Challenge. Though all good things must come to an end there is no reason that they cannot end with a bang!!! To that end I will be posting about Once Upon a Time II on Tuesday morning and will be including information on a few more prizes that are yet to be won. Stay Tuned!!!
One last thing. I love it when people take the time to package things with an extra flourish. Liza Corbett, in addition to the fun extras she sent, packaged the t-shirt for this giveaway this way and I thought I would share it:
Quite fun!
Have a wonderful Monday everyone!
Wheeee! This just made my day, thanks Carl!
Loooove the t-shirt packaging, it looks gorgeous.
The Fall sounds very interesting, I hadn’t heard of it before this post so will definitely check it out.
Congrats Quix! Carl sure knows how to conduct a contest!
thanks for the head up on the movie Carl.. I doubt I will see it in the theater though, since taxi’s have gone sky high because of gas it now costs me 28.00 for the rd trip to the theater, so you better know it has to be a special movie for me to go to the theater anymore! lol my next venture that I hope will be Hellboy II… but I’ll watch for this realease on dvd!!
Congrats Quixotic!
Thanks for letting us know about The Fall, Carl. I just love Lee Pace on Pushing Daisies, so I’ll definitely check this movie out!
Heather: I am not in a hurry for a bunch of new season shows to start…I’m still trying to catch up with what I’ve missed…but one exception is Pushing Daisies. I wish the new shows would start airing immediately!
Deslily: I can certainly understand you having to be picky with prices like that! I am hoping Hellboy II will prove to be well worth the price for your gas, etc!
Quix: Congrats again. Hopefully it won’t take too many days for all the various pieces of the prize pack to come working their way in. I’ll send you an email when it is all together and ready to ship.
Congratulations, Quixotic!
Congrats!! It was a majorly fine package that you won. Steampunk is just so cool. Hope you get a major kick out of it!
And wow Carl, this is an amazing movie. I hope to catch it on the internet and get to download it. Hopefully this will happen and such. I highly enjoy visual movies like the Japanese “Curse of the Golden Flower”, which dazzled with costumes, make-up and decore.
Yay Quix!!! Enjoy it all 🙂
The Fall sounds like something that I’d truly love. I’ll have to try to see it if I can. Unfortunately, the only place it’s playing is this tiny indy theatre on the outskirts of the french quarter and it costs a fortune to go there once you pay for parking and all that. It sounds like it would be worth it to see this one on the big screen though! I know I’d love this one though because I really loved the Cell when all the critics hated it. I thought that one was visually stunning as well! This one looks to have topped that one by miles. Can’t wait!
If you enjoyed The Cell, Chris, I have little doubt that you’ll like this one and it just might be worth that extra cash.
Harry: I’ll have to check out Curse, I haven’t heard of that one that I can recall.
With any luck it will show up at the one small theatre in town that shows unusual and indie films. I just wish they would fix their seats.
Thanks for the heads-up
Congratulations, Quixotic! 🙂
I hadn’t heard of The Fall before. It sounds like a movie I’d really enjoy. I’ll have to keep an eye out for it.
Oh I did love the look of The Cell. I wonder if this’ll come out over here, I’ll be going to see it.
And congrats on all the pretties Quixotic 🙂
The Fall – I just sat through the trailer three times in a row and then googled for the closest theater and found that there IS no close theater (Austin or Dallas = 2.5 hours away) so I have to wait for the DVD…
I’m so happy for Quixotic! What lovely prizes for a lovely blogger.
Thanks for the movie review, Carl. I’m so behind on my movie viewing I’m still waiting to see Indiana Jones! That’s coming up this Sunday, when I take my father for Father’s Day…
Bellezza: That sounds like a really fun Father’s Day idea!
Ken: I’m sorry, I think many will have to wait for the DVD. My hope is that this will be an extras laden DVD because I long to know tons of details about the inspirations for the film, making of, etc.
Fence: I have to admit that I still have never seen The Cell, mainly as I am not a fan of J-Lo, but I am tempted to finally pick it up and view it now.
Nymeth: I think you would.
Elizabeth: We are fortunate to have a few really nice indie theatres here…and a few that need some upkeep as it sounds like yours does. Thankfully one of the larger AMC theaters locations often gets these small run indie films which is where I saw The Fall. That way I get the best of both worlds, to support a small film and to sit in really nice seats!
Wow! Thanks for posting that preview of The Fall. My oldest son was just telling me about it last week when we visited him in Iowa. The preview and your review made me a believer. Will definitely be off to the theater later this week (before the big, bad ‘worthless unless it’s a mega-seller’ theater owners pull it).
Like Chris and others, I loved The Cell too, so hopefully I will also love this one.
Carl totally spoils us with his awesome prize packages, such an awesome blogger. 🙂
Nope. I hadn’t heard about “The Fall” before now. It isn’t playing anywhere around here as of yet. Sounds interesting, though.
Congrats, Quixotic!!
Congrats Quixotic! What an awesome prize pack.
I loved The Fall. It’s opening scene is quite odd. At first I was thinking what kind of movie have we gotten ourselves into then as the story builds it all makes sense and by the end of the film I just loved it. The imagery is incredible and as Carl notes the little girl actress is just the cutest little girl. She does an amzing job. I haven’t seen The Cell but this movie reminded me a lot of The Princess Bride with the whole story telling aspect. Great review Carl!
Yay Quix!
The Fall looks beautiful. I loved the visuals of The Cell and having watched the trailer for this now, I’m hoooked. No sign of it anywhere in the UK at all though, which is disappointing. I’ll keep my eyes peeled (my all time favourite figurative phrase, the literal interpretation is just so gross.)
I managed to find this one at a local theater at 4 this afternoon. I thought i was going to be the only one there until 2 guys showed right as the previews started. I absolutely loved it. I just finished reading The Book of Lost Things and seem to be on an adult fairy tale kick. Thanks so much for the rec!
I’m glad you mentioned “The Fall”. I keep an eye on Apple’s trailer page so I’ve known about this movie for some time. What caught me was the use of bright colours and an interesting story. I can’t wait to see it on the big screen.
this looks very good indeed. i always have a lot of time for film makers who approach this kind of subject matter anyway – and especially one that is a labour of love.
i think some reviewers are just never going to like films of that genre and it rather annoys me that they go and watch them in the first place just to criticise it.