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• Director: Tarsem Singh
• Genre: Fantasy/Drama/Adventure
• Year: 2008 (US)

The first thing that drew my attention to this film was the visuals, its fantastic approach and its costume design. Right off the bat it reminded me off The Cell, a favorite movie of mine which suffered in casting coughjenifferlopezcough but which still remains a complete visual orgasm, as far as I am concerned. As it turns out Tarsem Singh also directed The Cell and so that explains a hell of a lot.

The movie is set in Los Angeles, right around the 1920′s in a hospital in which Roy (Lee Pace; Pushing Daisies), a suicidal stunt man, is being kept under watch after trying to end his life. Alexandria (Catinca Untaru), a young child that is sort of every nurse and doctor’s pet, roams around the building looking for interesting things to do. When she meets Roy, a playful relationship is sparked, in which Roy tries uses an intriguing story to feed the child’s imagination and get what he needs for himself as well.

The story jumps, between the hospital in Los Angeles and the visually stunning story regarding an Indian, an explosive expert, a former slave, Charles Darwin and the Red Bandit, a group of men who are all after Governor Odious, a man they hate equally for distinct reasons.

Following the thread left off by The Cell, The Fall employs amazing imagery with vivid colors, splendid panoramas and unique costuming. Shot in twenty six locations in over 18 countries, the director brings to the screen exquisite scenes that are like the equivalent of candy for the eyes. Moreover, what adds an additional layer of interest here is the fact that the story is presented to the audience through the words of Roy, an adult, but seen through the eyes of Alexandria, a child. This results in quirky misunderstandings or over-stretching of the imagination that make the entirety of this film, that much more fantastic.

It also must be mentioned that Catinca Untaru is about the most beautiful little creature in film I have seen in a long time. Forget child actors, this girl is rumored to have absolutely no training when she shot this movie (apparently at the age of five). Whatever methods the director employed to get her to deliver this character most definitely worked, and the girl has a shinning charm that leaps off the silver screen and rattles you with laughter. There are numerous parts in this film where the interaction of this girl with others is intoxicating, in particular, one conversation between Roy and Alexandria comes to mind, where she brings Roy a bit of ‘host’ stolen from a priest and which the child calls food; Roy’s questioning and Alexandria’s answering is so natural, so realistic and so funny, that you can not help but get attached to these characters.

Exciting, stunning, intriguing, evocative, thought provoking, this is the first film this year that brings back to mind Pan’s Labyrinth, and while this film fails to hit the more subtle notes that Guillermo del Toro so accurately struck, this to me remains one of the first memorable films of the year. It is not perfect, there are aspects of the story that could have been polished a bit more for the delivery and casting decisions in the part of the Nurse/Princess, which were questionable, but all of these are small problems that hardly bear down on the overall scheme. Also, it should be noted that some people will have a hard time with the fantasy end of this story. Those that are caught up in details and making things work in a linear fashion will find themselves frustrated by a story that makes blunders and fixes itself as it goes, more than once back tracking on itself to change details only because it suits. This is something natural to amateurish story telling, and something that in the context is necessary for this movie, but I get the feeling many people will try to knock it for it. Now…what I am asking myself is, was this movie released too early in the year to be remembered come Award season

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Notes: There are some moments of violence that will likely be unnerving to the younger crowd as well as some imagery that could be disturbing. That being said, language is pretty clean and there is no nudity or sexuality. Overall a pretty good film to watch with the family as long as the really little kids are left with the sitter.
Quote: Charles Darwin: Shoot, you animals. They’ll pay you well for Darwin’s hide.