I have a love hate relationship with director Tarsem Singh. On one hand, he just doesn’t really develop a story like he should, With strong actors, epic plots and the fact that he has been directing for several years, he should kind of know how to devlop that crucial story that would help make his films better. On the other hand, his visuals and eye for cinematography are the things that dreams are made of. Gorgeous, beauitful, and some of the most captivating films put to screen, Tarsem films deliver on the magic that is cinema with astounding visual skills. While not his first film, The Fall is truly one of the films that is a must see, simply because it exists.
Visually minded filmmaker Tarsem Singh returns to the director’s chair for the first time since The Cell (2000) with this psychologically complex tale of a hospitalized paraplegic with a curious knack for storytelling. Unable to free himself from his sterile confines, the immobile patient’s deepest fears form the basis of a dark story that he shares with his young companion — a little girl who visits his room as she recovers from a nasty fall. As the eerie tale unfolds, reality and fantasy gradually merge to form a strange world in which anything is possible. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
If you have never seen The Fall, go and watch it right this instant. The review itself will be more about my impressions of the film and why it is an amazing piece of work. Shot in over 18 different countries, this is a labor of love that Tarsem puts to film. The results of the set locations and visuals are just awe inspiring. The story that drives the film is fantasy that merges both reality and surrealism into one beinding film. The art of storytelling comes from the art itself, as the story is just so-so, but combining it with the visuals of the film enhances the feeling of the dreamlike quality.
What you will be marveling the most about The Fall, is the visuals. I cannot begin to describe the sort of surrealist visuals the permeate from the film cells of every frame of this movie. When I first saw this movie back in 2006, I would have sworn that the effects were done with computer enhancement. But interviews and behind the scene clips showed that Tarsem acheived this Dali-like effects through practical use and the complimentary set locations that added to this far out film. An incredible labor of love with over four years of location scouting and independently financing the film, The Fall is truly the project that Tarsem has always wanted to make and it shows. The dedication to the details of the scenes and settings can only be done when everyone involved is committed to a non-traditional Hollywood movie.
I realize that I am focusing solely on the visuals, but like most of Tarsem’s films, the visuals are the reason you watch his films. It is far more style over substance, but the story that is there is helped out by the jaw dropping visuals. It truly is a film that must be seen because it exists for us to see. It’s not going to break new ground in story telling or even characterizations, but the passion projects of particular directors are somthing to be admired more than anything else. They are the films that directors dream of doing that aren’t for the mainstream or the standard Hollywood films that garner the critical acclaim or coverage. The Fall continues the fantastic visual work of Tarsem Singh, while managing to weave a bit of story and magic into the proceedings.