The Fall - DVD Re-View
The Fall (2006)
DVD RE-VIEW , THE FALL. BY 790
PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY TARSEM SINGH.
STARS: LEE PACE, CATINCA UNTARU, ROBIN SMITH, LEO BILL, JEETU VERMA, MARCUS WESLEY, JULIAN BLEACH, EMIL HOSTINA, JUSTINE WADDELL, AND DANIEL CALTAGIRONE.
Run Time: 117 min.
The Fall, premiered in 2006 but wasn’t released until May 2008, only recently I was able to catch this on dvd. The film was shot in over 18 different countries, and took over 4 years to make… I figured it deserved a re-view.
The Fall, opens with a stunning black & white visual looking back to an old silent action film. It appears something terrible has happened during shooting, as chaos insues the melancholy sounds of Beethovens Symphony No 7 play in the tragic background. As the film opens its 1920, Los Angeles (once upon a time).
Roy Walker, (Lee Pace) is an injured stunt man apparently paralysed from the waste down due to a bad fall. Bedridden in a Catholic Hospice, he befriends a 5 year old Russian immigrant girl named Alexandria (Catinca Untaru). She’s in the hospice suffering from a broken collar bone that occured during a raid on her families home. A raid by bandits, that also tragically took her fathers life.
The playfull Alexandria encounters Roy after one of her letters falls into his bedroom window (This film is heavy with symbolism). As the epic story takes off, Roy begins to tell her the tale of Alexander the Great, but she asks for a pirate story instead.
As we leave the dreary hospital behind we are transported to a highly visual landscape of characters and colours. Tarsem also directed The Cell if you recall the visuals in that film were brilliant, it’s no different in The Fall.
Roy begins to tell the story of the Black Bandit, and his quest to save his twin brother the Blue Bandit. The main character (Black Bandit) is also Alexandrias father played by (Emil Hostina), the characters in the hospice also take on familiar roles in the epic story. The epic story begins with our five heroes stranded on beautiful Butterfly Reef, left behind to die at the hands of Governor Odious (Daniel Caltagirone). The Black Bandit, Ex-Slave Otta Benga (Marcus Wesley), The Indian (Jeetu Verma), Luigi , the Explosives expert (Robin Smith), The English naturalist, Charles Darwin (Leo Bill), and his brilliant monkey Wallace. ( I loved the monkey)
Governor Odious has captured the Blue Bandit, and plans to kill him at mornings light. Once off the island they encounter a Tree Mystic (Julian Bleach), who escorts them on they’re rescue. Soon they find out that they’re too late to save the Blue Bandit, he and his crew are slaughtered by Odious.
At this point (back at the hospital) Alexandria, asks Roy to tell the story as if he were the Black Bandit. He agrees as the mask comes off, we see Roy as the lead character in the story. After the death of the Blue Bandit, he swears to annihilate Governor Odious and everything he loves!!! At this point a near by patient in the hospital attacks Roy as he’s telling the story, citing that its too violent for this little girl. Alexandria runs out, but we later see her spying on Roy. It seems Roy is broken hearted over his girlfriend falling for the lead actor in the film he was working on. Alexandria returns the next day to hear the rest of the story but it seems Roy needs something from her if he is to continue. Roy needs morphine so he can sleep, and asks Alexandria to get it for him. At this point the film gets rather dark, while obtaining the morphine for Roy, she sees something that troubles her deeply. Unfortunately the morphin3 that Alexandria manages to steal isn’t enough, and Roy requests more, we soon find out why he wants the morphine.
The Fall took a wild turn in the middle that I really can’t spoil other than to say that I didn’t see it coming, and the reaction was very emotional. The film continues to tell the tale of the 5 Bandits in they’re quest to kill Governor Odious, as we travel from the dreary hospital to the fantasy world of Walker’s troubled state of mind.
The Fall is a very emotionally powerfull film that some will find depressing, troubling, and possibly confusing at times. It reminded me of The Wizard of Oz meets Brazil. Break-out star Catinca Untaru was amazing, and her performance was Oscar worthy big time!!!
I will say this, The Fall does have amazing visuals, and a satisfying ending, one that makes you believe in the power of a good story, and the faith of hope.
The DVD has 2 commentary tracks, deleted scenes, and 2 incredible making of featurettes that show the intense directing of Tarsem.
The Fall is rated R.
Can’t get this film out of my head,,,
This ones in my top 10 of 2008…
oohh I saw this in the store the other day too. Tomorrow is movie day I think I’ll pick it up. Singh’s visual sense is excellent. I watched “The Cell” 3 times. Anything loaded like “The Cell,” and “Brazil” begs to be seen.. :P Good call 790. Find us another for next week!
Volcano Tacos!,,,Old Man,,,!
Please share your review of the film here, after you see it… ;-)
You bet! Local Bell ran out the other night.. GRR
Don’t suppose you ever heard of the little devil called Hotstuff have you? Some relative of Hellboy I think. ;-)
This movie would have been a top header on the Z channel! If only it still existed. For those not in the know, the Z channel was before HBO, CINEMAX, SHOWTIME, Home Video Tape!! When most of those also-rans started out they were pale comparisons to Z. The genius at Z went out and found impossible uncut prints that were thought not to exist and showed them on Z no commercials. Z magazine just made the whole thing complete.
More to come on this movie gem.
The Wizard of Oz meets Brazil????
Dude have you seen Wizard of Oz 2, by Frank Oz? Holy Crap Monkey! That was a twisted film… as a kid, I thought it was a horror movie… made my mom return it to Blockbuster and rent Star Trek The Next Generation instead! ;)
Good review, I was looking at this cause I saw it on Blu-Ray the other day for $8 used… the cover looked interesting and I think, after this review I’ll give this movie a shot…
Thanks for bringing this movie to our attention…
:)
@Ergo Proxy, “Return to Oz” was indeed a pretty funky movie…with Dorothy getting sent to a loony bin, a room of talking Queen heads, the “wheelers” (creepy bad-guy types), and a Goblin King…this movie scared the crap out of me as a child.
Channel Z,,, cool song by the B52’s. Never heard of the actual channel…
Glad you guys are gonna check out the film. 8 bucks used wow that’s a hellava deal…
(Check out the making of documentaries there really amazing as well)
This film really hits you in the brain…
It starts out like a fairy tale and leads you down a path that’s so full of emotion it hurts… I was really blown away.
Ergo, check it out,,
Old Man,,, I await more from you on this,,, ;-)
Here’s some additional information about the
great people involved in this movie.
post production by Duran Duboi
well worth checking there website
for the amusing shorts showcasing
their work. Some for movies not even
released here yet. http://www.duranduboi.com
Mezzo Soprano Marie Kobayashi
An award winning artist whose repertoire extends from baroque to contemporary music
Violin Christophe Guiot
Who worked on: The Transporter 2,
8 Women, Pola X, The Lover,
and Hitman .
Bulgarian symphony Orchestra with Deian Pavlov
Founded by Victor Chouchkov the Orchestra has
successfully realized over 500 music productions from all over the world.
original music composed by Krishna Levy
Who worked on “Whatever Lola Wants”
and the thriller “Noche de los girasoles, La”
Bulgarian symphony orchestra performed
Beethoven’s Symphony No 7
in ‘A ‘ major.op.92- conducted by Deian Pavlov
The story as described by 790 I was surprised to learn, is from another film from Bulgaria, “Yo Ho HO” by Valeri Petrovand and directed by zako Heskia. That film made in 1981 also came highly recommended and won awards in Russia. While the story is pretty straight forward, a jilted and depressed invalid stunt man [Roy] wishes to commit suicide. It’s complicated by the fanciful story told to a little girl [Alexandria] to get her help to complete the task.
The symbolism of the story is very interesting and represented by many locations, for example. The agonized unto death of Roy’s broken heart symbolized of many accounts by the greatest symbol of such situations The Taj Mahall. The blue city a place on earth where caste still exists and the highest caste, Brahmin’s reside and where his final fatal encounter with odious occurs it’s a
real city that for religious reasons is painted blue. At one point Roy imagines himself slipping away, images of Islamic Sufi’s in their whirling dervishes seeking enlightenment, portrays a kind of finality that Roy imagines experiencing from an overdose…The shots of the Sufis from above reminding us of the pills he’s taken.
The way that Roy’s efforts combined with Alexandria’s imagination to communicate the story while occurring rarely in film in this way is effective in tying fantasy with reality.
So many shots that you think were digital, CG or enhanced in some way, aren’t, and the real topper is that for various reasons, it’s normally impossible to shoot a film at these locations. For example, the blue city; Where If the residence knew you were shooting a film they would all want to watch.
So since most of the shots are from the top of buildings on the roofs, you would have had all these people looking at you from their roofs. Which is out of context with the scene and would’ve ruined the shots.
It was interesting to note that the director Tarsem while having spent over 19 years making this film (4 years to shoot) was pretty much dictated to by the actions of a 6 year old, the young Actress Catinca Untaru. Quite a bit of the story relies on her performance and being only 6 and unaccustomed to english, additionally being a neophyte actress, forced Tarsem to rely on natural actions to become her performance. At times even tricking her into performing. The film suffers a little for it, but is, way made up for, in the nuanced and real portrayal.
I was further impressed by how many shots were first takes. Of course plenty of this is explained be the director’s included
commentaries, which is one of the extra features of the DVD. It’s one of the better commentary tracks I’ve heard in
recent years, and I believe Tarsem shows us his love of film. Willing to share many important aspects, not just of this
film, but about most all aspects of film making. This film is Not just a good film, it’s a labor of love, and a classic
example of what Joseph Campbell meant by, “following your bliss.”
WOW,,, thanks Old Man, those are some of the best comments I’ve ever received on a review !!! I appreciate you taking the time to write those… :-)
Yes the symbolism was very heavy for sure,,, thanks for the extra bits that went right over my robot head. Lol
(It was interesting to see them shooting in the cities with all the people watching them)
Like you Old Man, I was also amazed at the performance that Catinca delivered… (I’m assuming you’ve seen all the bonus features).
I was surprised that Tarsem tricked her into thinking Roy (Lee Pace) was actually crippled… Wow!
The outtakes that showed her missing her lines were something I’ve NEVER seen in any special features ever… To think that Tarsem had so much faith in the little actress shows that this guy has an eye for talent…
Even though at times it looked like both Tarsem, and Catinca were going to explode with rage, they both pulled it off. Lee Pace (Pushing Daises) also did a hell of a job,!!!
The scenes showing Tarsem direct the finale between Odious, and Black Bandit were amazing!!! Tarsem really has a passion for nailing the scene. Sheessh I thought he was going to kill somebody. Lol.
I havnt watched the film with the commentary yet,,, sounds like that’s something I need to do,,, :-)
Thanks also for the music notes,,, the music in the film really captures the mood. After watching the film I found that Beethoven song playing over and over in my mind… A very haunting score for a very haunting film !
A truly great film. Tarsem Singh’s commentary never grated on me which usually happens, with other commentaries, and he had interesting things to say. Contrast his comments with the commentary track with Lee Pace, Dan Gilroy and I think Nico Soultanakis. However to be fair, those 3 start to shape up about halfway through the commentary and once focused on what’s happening on screen, instead of incidents surrounding filming, it becomes noticeably better. I’ve watched this movie four times in five days and I still enjoy it. If you rent it and watch it more than twice, you might as well buy it, you’ll want to show it to friends and family when they visit. :)
I’m really glad you like the film Old Man,,, it sucks when I film like this dosnt get the recognition it deserves…
The Fall, should be getting Oscar nominations.
This film, reminded me of Stanley Kubrick’s work,,,
Watching this with the commentary will be interesting, however the film is so emotional that I don’t know if I can watch it for awhile… Maybe it hits too close to home for me…///
I will be clearly upset if this movie doesn’t get Oscar notice!