Film Review. The Fall

The Fall

Director: Tarsem Singh

Writer: Dan Gilroy and Nico Soultanakis        

Cast: Catinca Untaru, Lee Pace, Justine Waddell, Kim Uylenbroek.

Director Tarsem Singh who is the talent behind the film The Cell has brought us the best film of 2008. The Fall is an amazing film with a genre mix of adventure, fantasy and drama. Very touching and heart warming, this work of art will keep you hooked at every part.

The Fall was the favourite of this years film festivals. Having already won Best Feature Film at Berlin International Film Festival and Best Film at Catalonian International Film Festival, there was high expectations.

During the opening credits you will be wondering what it is about but it won’t be until near the end that it will become clear.

A five year  old girl, Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) and a movie stuntman, Roy Walker (Lee Pace) form a beautiful friendship after meeting in a hospital in 1920’s Los Angeles. Their bond grows deeper through to the end of the film. Nurse Evelyn (Justine Waddell) acts like a mother  figure to Alexandria while she is in hospital.

Roy and Alexandria first form that friendship on finding out from each other that they both got their injuries from falling. Alexandria has a broken arm and Roy’s legs are broken after a stunt.

Roy begins to tell the young girl a story about six mythical heroes who strike up a friendship and set on a journey to kill their mutual enemy, Governor Odious. Odious has done something to each hero to make them hate him so much. The masked bandit wants him dead for the murder of his brother but it soon falls into a love story. The young girl comes back ever day to listen to more parts of the story. But you begin to realise that Roy is being nice to Alexandria and telling her these stories for a particular reason. He wants something in return for the continuous story telling. Something that only Alexandria can help him with.

As the story goes on you tend to see that the story is based on real people. Not only real people but the plot of his epic story was based on a real life situation. Roy’s life. He seems to be suffering from some sort of depression, from what has been going on in his life.

Alexandria injures herself again while doing something for  Roy. She falls and bangs her head and becomes unconscious. This makes Roy realise that he cares about the little girl. You can see he regrets using her for his own benefit. The moment where he explains all his lies to Alexandria and tries to put a dreadful end to the story is a very touching moment.

There are very impressive performances by the two main leads Lee Pace and Catinca Untaru. For such a young girl she should be acknowledged for her talent.

The setting of the film could of been done better. As it was set in the 1920’s there could of been more of an old style affect to the film. It was mainly just set in the hospital when the film switched back to L.A. during those scenes it flicked mostly back and fourth from Alexandria’s bed to Roy’s.

The adventure scenes lacked action and special affects that would of fitted into the film perfectly. It is an adventure but don’t think that means that it is full of action packed scenes. There are a few fight moments but mainly its just a love story being told. However it really doesn’t need any special affects and is fine the way it is.

What was good about the film was that it switched from different times. One minute it is set in the old style 1920’s hospital and then it switched to an adventurous ancient Rome style scene. It made the movie more interesting and there was no sense of boredom.

The adventure is the best part of the film and is for both children and adults. Children would enjoy the story of the heroes and what they are good at. Adults would easily become hooked on the plot of Roy’s epic, the love story.

Overall it is a film well worth seeing and deserves a high rating. For those who love action and special effects it wouldn’t be for you but the adventurous type and the love story type would find it amazing.

But now to get another opinion on this film and to have another insight to what others thought I asked a friend of mine who came to see the film with me.

Sarah Deane came with me the day we went to see this film. The first thing she said and I quote was that “It was actually surprisingly good”. Sarah stated that she would ‘never go’ to the IFI to see a film and would always stick to Hollywood blockbusters but that since seeing The Fall she would give the place another go for future films.

When Sarah was asked why she liked the film she replied, “It was different, interesting and something that you wouldn’t see coming from Hollywood”.

This film definitely seemed to have not only me but sceptical people hooked at every seen wondering what was going to happen next and what was the twist to the story. Sarah did admit she ‘didn’t expect the twists’ in the film but that is what made it ‘more fun’ and ‘exciting’ for her to watch.

Hollywood seems to have taken over the world of cinema these days but we tend to forget that there is some real talent out there without the Hollywood influence. Although Tarsem Singh is a known director this film didn’t exactly make it into big cinemas around the world, which is a shame because this is without a doubt a film that would hold the attention of any film goer no matter what their genre preference or who made the film.