I just finished watching what is quite possibly the greatest movie I have seen in the last several years. The Fall is a movie that I am sure that 99% of the people that read this blog have never heard of. The story takes place in a hospital in Los Angles in the 1920's and revolves around a man and a little girl that develop a friendship over a period of time as he makes up a story for her. I won't delve too deeply into the characters motivations here, but lets just say there is a conflict that builds between the two of them that leads to a very satisfying climax.
The story that the man tells the little girl is a fairly typical story revolving around revenge and the like, but put forth in a more light hearted way that makes it more suitable for a young child. When the movie flashes to these scenes, it makes for some of the most visually stunning shots ever put to film. Tarsem Singh, who is probably best known for directing The Cell with Jennifer Lopez (and that is one the most beautiful, terrible movies that I have ever seen) seems to try to emulate in a more surrealistic sense what Akira Kurosawa did in most all of his films, and that is frame and shoot you scenes in such a way that you almost feel like you are viewing a painting in motion. I will buy this movie on BluRay the day I buy my HDTV.
Now, it should be said that this film takes a fairly dark turn around the half way mark that may turn off some, but I thought that was where the film was the most perfect. The performances are subtle in the real world time line and way over the top in the story. One thing I failed to mention is that all of the characters in the story are based on people in the hospital or from a picture the little girl has of her family. So you get a nuanced performance and a Al Pacino in Heat performance from each character.
Overall, I can not recommend this movie enough, even though I can see where this would never be a mainstream hit. This is a movie that makes you work for the goods, but it is well worth it. 10/10.
Also, the screen caps on here are ones I did myself, as I thought it was insane that a movie that looked this stunning only had crap for screens on any sites. Let me know if you like that or if I am just full of myself or something.
4 comments:
Cool blog. I'm going to bookmark you in my blog fav..! The movie sounds good, I'm going to check it out yo!
Check these out when you get the chance:
http://carolenh.blogspot.com/
www.carolehedrick.com
http://goingreennews.blogspot.com/ (which i think you've seen already since you rock and joined our facebook group)
Take care!
carole
I've heard good things about this movie but never got around to watching it.
I'll try to remember it next time I rent a movie.
i tagged you on my blog, but I don't think you know what that means or that you will actually respond. ha ha. lyb
I remember I thought this looked interesting when I saw some previews for it. Is it worth buying, or should I just borrow/rent? (And I know that you might not be the best to give advice on this my fellow DVD addict, but I respect your opinion-especially since we have both acknowledged that we have a problem, but are not sure if we want to fix it!)
Post a Comment