The Falldirected by Tarsem Singh
Average customer review:
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #164 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-09
- Rating: R (Restricted)
- Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Original language: English
- Number of discs: 1
- Running time: 117 minutes
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Roger Ebert proclaimed it "one of the most extraordinary films I've ever seen," and there's no denying the avalanche of wild images in The Fall: grand castles, desert vistas, elephants swimming in the open ocean. Commercial and music-video director Tarsem has piled these visions into an elaborate remake of an obscure Bulgarian film, Yo Ho Ho, which is anchored in (but by no means limited to) a quiet hospital during the silent-movie era. A stuntman (Lee Pace) is laid up with leg injuries, and an eye-popping black-and-white prologue (utterly mystifying while we're watching it) tells us how he got here. Depressed over his disability and a recent lost love, he plans suicide, but is temporarily derailed by the inquisitive friendship of a little girl (Catinca Untaru), to whom he tells wild stories of adventurers and princesses. We see these stories, which is where the dizzying visuals come in. This movie probably won't inspire many lukewarm responses: either you'll fall madly for this paean to storytelling magic, or you'll be suspicious about the parade of pretty pictures, which tend to have a magazine-layout sheen. The movie certainly has more soul than Tarsem's yucky previous feature, The Cell, and the scenes between Pace and Untaru (who scores an 11 on the cuteness scale) are genuinely charming. The director actually put a considerable amount of his own money into the production (which shot in over 20 countries), and whether you buy his vision or not, he put his money on the screen. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
The Fall
Tarsem Singh zwrocil przed kilku laty moja niepodzielna uwage swoim filmem "The Cell" (Jennifer Lopez, Vincent D'Onofrio, Vince Vaughan), w ktorym na kanwie horroru maluje dramatycznie wysyconymi farbami zagadnienia z dziedziny "pop-psychologii". Tarsem calkiem umiejetnie wykorzystuje gleboko ukryte nastroje sado-masochizmu, aby oprowadzic nas po wykrzywionej jazni ludzkiej, produkujacej koszmarne wizje. Hieronymous B. sciga sie tu z Salvadorem D. Czy wspominalem juz, ze wizje te sa bardzo kolorowe? Jednakze dla widzow, dla ktorych w swiecie nocnych marzen nie ma miejsca na takie okropnosci, polecam aby zostawili ten film na polce, i zamiast niego, siegneli po "Bambi".
"The Fall", ktory byl pokazywany tylko w wybranych kinach naszego miasta, zadebiutowal na festivalu w Toronto w 2006, a do Ameryki trafil pod patronatem Davida Finchera ("Seven") i Spika Jonze'a ("Being John Malkovich", "Adaptation").
Filmowy kaskader (Lee Pace, dla ktorego przewiduje nadchodzaca aprobate fortuny), lezacy unieruchomiony w szpitalu w Los Angeles (odpowiednio prowincjonalnym jak na rok 1915), snuje egzotyczne i basniowe opowiadanie ktorego odbiorca jest piecio-szescioletnia(?) dziewczynka, kurujaca swoje zlamane ramie. W tej historii melodramatycznie dziarski, ale tez szykowny Black Bandit (Pace), w asyscie niewolnika, mistyka, anarchisty, oraz Charlesa Darwin'a (postac niczym z uciekinier z wyobrazni Rene Margritte'a), zmagaja sie diabolicznym Gubernatorem Odious'em. Dziewczynka, podobnie jak personel szpitalny oraz pacjenci, sa zamieszani w kolorowa (znowu!!) przygode, calkiem w kanonach teatralnej stylistyki Svankmajer'a czy Jodorowsky'ego. Brawa dla projektantki kostiumow Eiko Ishioka!
Jesli nie dla historii opowiadanej w filmie (ktora moim zdaniem moglaby byc opowiedziana inaczej), proponuje obejrzec ten film, aby zobaczyc fantastycznie sfilmowana postac dziewczynki (Cantinca Untaru). Unikam tu posluzenia sie okresleniem "roli", gdyz dziewczynka "zagrala" sama siebie, z ujmujaca prawda i niuansami bycia piecioletnim dzieckiem. Nalezy sie jej caly koszyk Oscar'ow!!
Podobnie jak w "The Cell", dominuje kolorystyka. Tym razem promieniujaco ciepla. Na oklaski zasluguja tez zgrabnie zmontowane, czasem samoironiczne przejscia do kolejnych scen. Cos jak nasterydowany Greenaway idacy pod pache z ktorymkolwiek rezyserem z ligi wloskiej; dajmy na to: Bertolucci'm. Do kina, lub na domowa kanape zapraszam cala rodzina. Zycze przyjemnej podrozy.
beautiful and captivating 
when it comes down to real story telling this is the movie that will captivate your senses. What's absorbing about this film is the fact it's seen through the eyes of the young listener, who does not have the usual imagination of the injured stunt man or we as the audience. By the films ending you will leave with one lovable lesson on life and the passion to one day visit far away lands such as India.
A beautifully crafted, well-acted exceptionally fairytale
I had the fortune of seeing THE FALL in Salt Lake City (the one place it was playing in the state of Utah). All of us who went to the film agreed that it was a fantastic movie. The story has some parallels to THE PRINCESS BRIDE, but visually, it is more akin to PAN'S LABYRINTH, and the subject matter is more dramatic and stark (although, surprisingly, the film is quite humorous at points). Lee Pace and Catinca Untaru are incredible in the film. The key story takes place at a California mission in the 30s where a stunt man (Pace) has been taken after suffering a paralyzing injury. There, he meets Untaru's character, who is a young female immigrant that has broken her arm working in the orange fields. Pace begins telling her a made-up story in an effort to get her to steal Morphine (Pace's character is so unhappy, he wants to end his life). The fantasy part of the film is fantastic and the interweaving of the two stories is very affecting and touching. I am really shocked that this film did not receive more attention and acclaim. It was definitely my favorite film of the last year or so. Highly recommended.
