The Fall

I should preface this post by saying that I have suggested this film to others with mixed reviews. While some people absolutely loved it and went out and bought it on DVD immediately, others panned it (for reasons I cannot say I completely understand). Nevertheless, I do believe that everyone should see The Fall because of its cinematic beauty and ode to storytelling, childhood, and innocence.

When I say this movie is stunning, it's a complete understatement. Tarsem Singh, the director, shot in over 20 countries and used no CGI for the settings. This statement doesn't do the film justice as The Fall is absolutely beautifully shot and you won't understand until you see it.

Unfortunately, the cinematography is also one of the factors that caused dislike in critics. Some accused The Fall of being one very pretty, but very long music video. While Tarsem is a very accomplised music video director, I feel that this comment is undeserved for this movie. It has a lot of heart and courage and these qualities only become stronger in my mind when I saw Singh's other film The Cell.

While The Fall does not deserve being called a long music video, I have a hard time ignoring that comment while watching The Cell. It might have been the casting, which was very poor, but whenever Jennifer Lopez was on screen I kept waiting for "Jenny from the Block" to start playing in the background. Because Tarsem's style is so visually rich, when you have a pop star on screen, everything starts looking like a music video. Cinematography, while important, should serve a purpose in the film but should never take a backseat to story. In The Fall, the cinematography enhances the storytelling and imagination because there is an important story being told. The Cell only has its cinematography.

So why does The Fall work while The Cell flounders? I think you can chalk it up to better material which leads to better performances. The Fall was perfectly cast with Lee Pace and new-comer Catinca Untaru and Singh and Pace went to great lengths to get a genuine performance out of Untaru. (Pace plays a paraplegic stunt-man and in order for the young Untaru to give a sincere performance, Pace and Singh told Untaru as well as the rest of the cast and crew that Pace lost his ability to walk in a motorcycle accident.)

Also, the subject matter and characters in The Fall strike a deeper chord than a serial killer thriller and show much more maturity from Singh. The audience isn't given much time with the characters in The Cell and anything important about them is revealed randomly and unnaturally throughout the movie or haphazardly hinted at. The Fall is much more gradual with character development, keeping the audience from having a "where did that just come from?" moment that were so frequent in The Cell. The Fall also covers childhood and the loss of innocence, themes that are as old as time, with a fresh perspective using two characters who are foils of one another, one very innocent and happy and one tainted by disappointment, to explore the process of growing up.

Parent Watchability: This movie is definitely family friendly and a really nice movie to share and discuss with others. There is violence and it does have scary moments so you might want to take heed before sharing it with younger kids.

Categories of Note:
Acting
Directing
Cinematography

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