"the fall"

[sergebroom]

On the first evening of the year, we watched 2006's The Fall, by Tarsem Singh. It begins in a Hollywood hospital in 1915, where a young stuntman is convalescing after losing the use of his legs. The main character is a little girl who's in because of a broken arm. For reasons of his own, the stuntman tells her a story about a masked bandit and his faithful companions, and a beautiful princess, and a little girl who just happens to look like her real-world counterpart. The first 30 minutes struck me as rather self-indulgent, but I finally got into it. And the costumes of the story within the story are gorgeous.

Comments

[sajia.livejournal.com]

Damn it, now I want to watch that movie, and I'm broke and it's a blizzard outside! Although I would have preferred it if the leads were POC, especially considering the race of the filmmaker. But then it would have been a different story.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I guess Singh had a more 'international' cast (meaning mostly white) because it was a co-production that went not just to India, but to Spain, Italy and China. The little girl was Romanian, but I found myself wondering if she was supposed to be Iranian because of the clothes her mom was wearing.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

This was raved about when it first came out. When I get to 2006, I'll put it on my queueue.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

It was? My wife was under the impression that it had received a lukewarm reception, but, when she checked on Rotten Tomatoes the other day, it turned out to have a 'fresh' rating even though it was a borderline case. Me, I liked it. (Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have posted about it.) I hope you like it too.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember the movie reviewer on our NBC station (not the news, a separate show) going on about it and showing little clips. The WashPost reviewer liked it, too.