Seen: June 19th, 2008
Format: Theater
Rating: 7
Tarsem Singh made a little film called The Cell. There were a lot of problems with that film, but it's visual sensibility was simply stunning. It far outstripped the actual screenplay, and basically left the rest of the film struggling to catch up. That dichotomy was ultimately its downfall.
The Fall, I'm happy to report, suffers no such problem.
There's the same sweeping visual sensibility here. It's a grand film, full of stunning vistas and large swaths of texture and color. Some scenes are paintings and one wonders if they really should be in motion. But move they do and gracefully. The visual metaphors strike deep and hard, driving us even deeper into the film. It does lack most of the twisted tones of its predecessor, and is not as consistently striking, but the trade-off is very worth its slight de-emphasis.
What's been traded for is plot and character.
There are no great characters here, but there are fairly real ones. Their motivations are simple, even base, but they are honest. Love, fear, ego, hunger,envy, lust; they're all here. People aren't complicated in this world. They are driven by simple desires that we can readily grasp because they speak to us in simple ways. We know and understand these people and we know and understand their bonds.
It is in their breaking of those bonds, to show us their multiplicities as seen by others where they are exposed and become hyperbolically themselves. Deep in fantasy, their most real natures are revealed.
Its almost a cheat, this fantasy. It allows Tarsem to do incredible things and remain firmly in the bounds of his created reality. Instead of feeling cheated, I feel a bit relieved and even envious that he can step so far out of the real, and share with us his visions, and yet cradle it all together and neatly stitch it back onto the framework of reality when required.
That was a mindful. I'd suggest you make your own determination.
The Good: Locations, Locations, Locations
The Bad: Our own Odious nature
The Ugly: Making someone your Accessory
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