The Movie:

The Fall cunningly blends several familiar plot designs with brilliantly surrealistic imagery to create an epic movie that visually appears unlike any other, yet still feels oddly recycled. Following in the footsteps of Pan’s Labyrinth, Tarsem’s second feature melds a somber reality with a mesmerizing fantasy, but his vision isn’t nearly as focused as the former’s and the result is plagued by a steady rise and fall of direction and satisfaction.

During her hospital recovery from a broken arm, young Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) encounters the bedridden Roy (Lee Pace), who quickly entices her with his storytelling. While manipulating the young girl into carrying out tasks for him, Roy weaves together an epic tale of five diverse warriors all fixated on a common goal – to kill the tyrannical governor Odious (Daniel Caltagirone). Continually adapting and evolving his story to encompass characters based on real people around them, and to please Alexandria’s vivid imagination, Roy slowly deceives the girl into aiding his tragic plan.

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Special Features:

The Fall does not have a substantial amount of featurettes, but what is on display is very solid.  The first commentary with the director, Tarsem, is an unusual and extremely informative track.  Tarsem discusses scene by scene, how the film was made.  He discusses the choice of filming completely in order, the challenge of filming in twenty-four countries for four years and talks about many of the visual tricks seen in the film.

The second commentary track with Lee Pace and two of the writers is also very fascinating.  It covers different ground and goes through inspiration, working on set and how the script came about.  There are two deleted scenes not nearly as visually wondrous as the film, though according to the commentary tracks, there are more deleted scenes not hosted here.  Wanderlust is a twenty-eight minute documentary that covers the location shoots extensively.  It definitely shows how hard it must have been to make The Fall.  The choice to use mainly behind the scenes footage instead of just the usual interviews was unique.  It showed Tarsem directing the actors in their blocking and working with the production team on how he visualized the scenes. 

The other documentary, Nostalgia, is a continuation of Wanderlust to some degree, but covers some other interesting areas of production.  This featurette has more on the director and actor relationships along with more details on the brilliant imagery presented in the film.  Also included are previews for Resident Evil: Degeneration, Redbelt, 88 Minutes and Kabluey.

8/10

Overall:

The Fall is a gorgeous and well-told tale that may be too dark for the general audience, but for those seeking a Gilliam-esque film along the lines of Baron Munchausen, this is a suitable choice.

G. Brandon Hill