If you haven't heard of the The Fall, you are not alone. Chances are, you would have a hard time finding someone who did see this movie. I know just in central Virginia, it played for exactly one week at an indie cinema. Well, what you (and I) missed out on was one of the most cinematic movies of the past few years.
The Fall is about a little girl named Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) stuck in a hospital with a broken arm who finds a paraplegic man in another ward. This man is a stuntman named Roy (Lee Pace) who tells her a marvelous story. However, to continue hearing it, she must do certain things for him sometimes. Anymore I think would spoil the plot, though it's not really about that.
It's a brilliant premise, and wound up in the hands of a brilliant director. Not because of his direction, so to say, but for his idealism. The Fall was filmed over four years in eighteen countries. I don't know why awards don't touch this movie. Are the Oscars afraid of going too indie? Was it not broody enough for the Independent Spirit Awards? The cinematography was perhaps the best I have ever seen. It was the best of the year, Slumdog be damned. I just don't understand... the Academy is movie critics. They had to have seen this movie, right? Isn't that what they're paid to do?
Anyway, the movie is a movie-making marvel. The little girl (and most of the cast and crew) thought Pace was paraplegic. Imagine the shock when he got up to film the action scenes. The little girl is also not an actress. She is so obviously not an actress, that at first it's hard to adjust to her. In a movie, you're used to seeing people acting, not just going around like normal. It works amazingly at the end, and when she does actually start acting and feeling more normal in front of the camera (much of the film was shot chronologically), it works very well.
The first part of the movie is a little awkward as you're trying to movie between the story and the fantasy. It's not as seamless as, say, Pan's Labyrinth or Secondhand Lions. It's more like an editing room flaw. I feel like, after all the time spent on this movie, the beginning could be better. After all, not too terribly much is going on in the hospital at first. When there's a story within a story, and both need to be told, it's hard to find the proper balance, and that is where The Fall may not shape up. It's also hard, once the names of David Fincher and Spike Jonze were brought up as producing the spectacle, to keep yourself from speculating on what could have been. Both are genius directors, and I kept wondering if the beginning would be smoother if they had been employed to make it.
However, the balance gets better as the movie progresses and reality and fantasy converge. It's mesmerizing, though it, too, has its rough spots. For example, I zoned out for maybe a minute or two and when I started focusing again, it appeared a baby was being tortured. I had to go back and focus again, and in context, it worked, though it's a very, very bizarre additive. In fact, looking back, there is little reason so far to give it over a three. But then the fantasy comes to a climax.
It is one of the most brilliant scenes in of 2008, I have to say. It's like the scene at the end of Benjamin Button. It uplifts the movie to a spot where it wouldn't be otherwise. It's classic film, cinematic, and dramatic. The oral story climaxes in a sadomasochistic, torturing, depressive way, as the world spirals to an end. It truly is tortuous, but so brilliantly so. And though I am not a huge fan of the ending, it works, and I am better for the experience.
The Fall, more than anything is an accomplishment. It's a triumph of cinema. It's a rousing adventure, and an emotional trip.
The Fall is about a little girl named Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) stuck in a hospital with a broken arm who finds a paraplegic man in another ward. This man is a stuntman named Roy (Lee Pace) who tells her a marvelous story. However, to continue hearing it, she must do certain things for him sometimes. Anymore I think would spoil the plot, though it's not really about that.
It's a brilliant premise, and wound up in the hands of a brilliant director. Not because of his direction, so to say, but for his idealism. The Fall was filmed over four years in eighteen countries. I don't know why awards don't touch this movie. Are the Oscars afraid of going too indie? Was it not broody enough for the Independent Spirit Awards? The cinematography was perhaps the best I have ever seen. It was the best of the year, Slumdog be damned. I just don't understand... the Academy is movie critics. They had to have seen this movie, right? Isn't that what they're paid to do?
Anyway, the movie is a movie-making marvel. The little girl (and most of the cast and crew) thought Pace was paraplegic. Imagine the shock when he got up to film the action scenes. The little girl is also not an actress. She is so obviously not an actress, that at first it's hard to adjust to her. In a movie, you're used to seeing people acting, not just going around like normal. It works amazingly at the end, and when she does actually start acting and feeling more normal in front of the camera (much of the film was shot chronologically), it works very well.
The first part of the movie is a little awkward as you're trying to movie between the story and the fantasy. It's not as seamless as, say, Pan's Labyrinth or Secondhand Lions. It's more like an editing room flaw. I feel like, after all the time spent on this movie, the beginning could be better. After all, not too terribly much is going on in the hospital at first. When there's a story within a story, and both need to be told, it's hard to find the proper balance, and that is where The Fall may not shape up. It's also hard, once the names of David Fincher and Spike Jonze were brought up as producing the spectacle, to keep yourself from speculating on what could have been. Both are genius directors, and I kept wondering if the beginning would be smoother if they had been employed to make it.
However, the balance gets better as the movie progresses and reality and fantasy converge. It's mesmerizing, though it, too, has its rough spots. For example, I zoned out for maybe a minute or two and when I started focusing again, it appeared a baby was being tortured. I had to go back and focus again, and in context, it worked, though it's a very, very bizarre additive. In fact, looking back, there is little reason so far to give it over a three. But then the fantasy comes to a climax.
It is one of the most brilliant scenes in of 2008, I have to say. It's like the scene at the end of Benjamin Button. It uplifts the movie to a spot where it wouldn't be otherwise. It's classic film, cinematic, and dramatic. The oral story climaxes in a sadomasochistic, torturing, depressive way, as the world spirals to an end. It truly is tortuous, but so brilliantly so. And though I am not a huge fan of the ending, it works, and I am better for the experience.
The Fall, more than anything is an accomplishment. It's a triumph of cinema. It's a rousing adventure, and an emotional trip.
Tell Your Friends