Art imitating film.
There were six of them - The Indian, The Explosives Expert, The Former Slave, The Mystic, Charles Darwin, and The Masked Bandit. They had nothing in common except for one thing, they all sought revenge against the evil Governor Odious.
It’s rare to find a film like this one. Every once in a while a director will release something that is truly a visual masterpiece to it’s viewers. Tarsem (director of “The Cell” and REM’s “Losing My Religion” music video), found the perfect vanity project to unleash his inner creativity. He found an epic and sweeping children's story told by a suicidal actor. With it he paints one hell of a picture.
“The Fall” is the story of little Alexandria, a young foreign girl stuck in a hospital with a broken arm after suffering a fall in a California orange grove. This precocious little youngster does her best to satiate her boredom by wandering the hospital as her arm heals. In one of the recovery rooms, she comes across and befriends a mysterious stranger named Roy, willing to tell her an epic adventure story - for a price. As the story unfolds Alexandria’s already active imagination takes flight, and gives us some of the most beautiful imagery that we have seen on film. But as the story progresses - so does the storytellers sadness. Alexandria must confront her storyteller in order to save the story she has grown to love.
First thing’s first, Alexandria is PERFECT, played by newcomer Catinca Untaru. Her every moment on screen is just as humorous and heartfelt as the one before it. What could have easily been an overacted children’s performance is an adorable and sincere girl that we can’t take our eyes off of. She gets some of the best laughs in the film, and your heart breaks for her as the story reaches it’s climax.
Lee Pace takes on the role of Roy/The Masked Bandit, and emits a charm that Matthew McConaughey might if he had any talent after “A Time To Kill” and “Dazed and Confused.” As sweet as he is darkly motivated, Pace gobbles up screen time as our hero and narrator. He’s fun to watch - considering these are characters we are seeing through the imagination of a child.
Currently with critics, thats the issue though. This is a movie with plot holes, no real character development, and a guessable finale. To the eyes of most moviegoers that would be an issue. But what people are ceasing to realize, is that this is the type of story that is normally told before bed, when your child won’t let go of you and you can’t reach a book. It’s improvisation. It’s there and then. On the spot. Roy reaches into his own imagination and tells a story meant to please only Alexandria. He changes things to make her happy, and stops at specific places only to leave her hungry for more. At one point, when he’s in an extremely vulnerable state, he even gives her the ability to add her own element to the story. To say that, those things are foolish is like youngsters refusing to suspend disbelief as you tell them “Little Red Riding Hood” or “Cinderella” for the first time. I prefer to think my children will believe that the mice can talk, and that there can be wolves dressed as grandma.
I enjoyed it.
