Movies You May Have Missed: 9/6/08
Settling into its Saturday slot, it’s time for Movies You May Have Missed, the weekly look at upcoming DVDs of smaller movies that you may never have gotten around to seeing or that skipped your neighborhood entirely. There’s just one pick this week.
The Fall (2008) ***
Lee Pace (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, TV’s Pushing Daisies) plays a silent era stuntman convalescing in a Los Angeles hospital after being paralyzed in a stunt gone wrong. His physical infirmity combined with the emotional toll of having been dumped by the love of his life sends him into a suicidal spiral. Hoping to convince a young ward mate (Catinca Untaru) to fetch him a fatal dose of morphine, he entrances her by spinning an exciting tale of adventure set in exotic foreign lands and populated Wizard of Oz style by the patients and employees of the hospital.
Tarsem Singh (The Cell) took many years and traveled to many countries to film this story that jumps back and forth between the nearly monochromatic real world hospital (filmed in South Africa) and the imagined lands of Pace’s tale. Though it’s filled with one gorgeous tableau after another, the results are less than satisfying. It is most compelling during the story within a story, but there’s a curious lack of drama because we know the whole thing is in Pace’s head. The results are stunning to look at, but I found them dramatically inert.
Nevertheless, I think The Fall is still worth a look on DVD even though it’s probably best appreciated on the big screen. Besides, plenty of smart people disagree with my take on the film. Alexander Coleman has a much more positive take over at Coleman’s Corner in Cinema.
If you’re in tune with Singh’s unique brand of visual storytelling, you might warm up to it more than I did. Buy: DVD
Filed under: DVD
Tags: Catinca Untaru, Lee Pace, Tarsem Singh, The Fall
Related Posts: - The Watercooler: 7/7/08
- Review: Kicking It (2008) ***
- The Watercooler: 5/12/08
- Movies You May Have Missed: 10/26/08
- DVD Review: Jake’s Closet (2008) ** 1/2
Still can’t wait to see that, I dig Lee Pace and it does look mighty pretty. Hope it comes to my shores soon, DVD or otherwise.
Just one pick this week, but at least it’s a very good one (in my opinion, of course). I can completely see why you and others found the fantasy “dramatically inert”; I suppose I just found Tarsem’s experiment of sorts much more successful than many others (it goes without saying I respect their opinion). Thank you for the kind words and linkage, Craig.
“The results are stunning to look at, but I found them dramatically inert.”
I tend to agree in general, Craig. To me, much of this film seemed transparently staged. But I agree that it’s a good effort worth catching on DVD.
I admire the film and perhaps additional viewings it will grow on me.
The little girl was pretty great. Cute without being annoying.
God I loved THE FALL.
Kill Bill parts 1 and 2 hits Blu-ray Tues and I’m looking forward to that. I’ll rent it and enjoy it in Hi-def, but I won’t buy it because it’s just a port of the movie-only versions already on DVD. I want a true special edition or no dinero leaves my pocket, hombre.
Forbidden Kingdom also hits DVD and Blu-ray, which I believe Craig enjoyed on its own merits.
Although I have MISS PETTIGREW at home and I’ve watched the entire season of PUSHING DAISIES online (all nine episodes of it - fabulous, sweet, whimsical, outrageously funny show BTW), this is just like a stake through my heart.
If EVER a film was meant to be seen on the big screen, THE FALL IS IT.
Due to distribution rights that were never picked up by anyone, THE FALL NEVER played my home town. I guess I should’ve driven down to Seattle for the weekend. Or something.
I really can’t believe this. THE FALL played in RUSSIA, for Christ’s sake. According to IMDB, it is getting some kind of a UK theatrical release.
It’s a hearbreakingly wicked shame. But this is how things shake out sometimes.
Now I know how Nick feels.
THE FALL may not be released on DVD this week up here. We don’t always get obscure/foreign/indie stuff at the same time. There is a tiny window of hope. We only got MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS FOR THREE WHOLE WEEKS approximately a month before it was released on DVD in the US. We ended up with it about a month after that.
So it is possible. But I doubt that anything will save this. THIS IS IT.
Excuse me for being incredibly bitter. But this was one of my most anticipated films ALL YEAR. I beat the bushes for the trailer at my site. Wowed and excited quite a number of people.
Now i don’t even get to see it - and a film of that much scope, mesmerizing beauty and passion is NOT going to look the same at home on my TV.
I AM WHITE HOT ABOUT THIS. But NOTHING will change it.
So I may as well figure out what else I can do for fun - without being arrested….
It’s a rough road for glamourous blondes, let me tell you….
Speaking of movies we may have missed, I just saw Polanski: Wanted and Desired. This exquisitely crafted film is, among other things, a thorough, balanced and definitive examination of events and circumstances surrounding the controversial director’s 1970s conviction for unlawful sexual intercourse.
Anyone who wishes to be informed on the matter should see this film regardless of any preexisting or consequent moral judgments. The film has a trainload of fascinating archival footage that captures the nature and mood of the affair. Included also are interviews with a wide array of players in the case, as well as old interview clips with Polanski.
Good editing and an effective musical score heighten the dramatic impact of this compelling story. This is a must-see that surely will be among major contenders for the full-length documentary Oscar.
This is one that I missed. I’ll probably check it out on DVD, but it sounds like it won’t be quite the same based on what others have said here.
Off topic: Silent movie star Anita Page passed away. She was 98. :(
I just saw that a while ago, Alison. At least she had a long life.
Because Page was in silent films — so long ago — most of us are unaware of how big a star she was in the 1920s.
The crappy thing Miranda is that a person who was genuinely amped to see this movie and may well have loved it was denied by the vagaries of distribution.
It sucks.
RIP Anita Page. The only film of hers I can talk about with any familiarity is Broadway Melody.
Page appeared in some of the films of William Haines, who is known today as the “first openly gay star.” She was interviewed for the best biography I’ve read on Haines, “Wisecracker.”
I didn’t like The Fall, but I’ll agree that it’s more worthy of the big-screen treatment than your average movie.
The biggest DVD release of them all this week is Abel Gance’s 1919 silent masterpiece J’ACCUSE on Flicker Alley DVD, which is a landmark work that is making its debut on home video. After LA ROUE premiered earlier in the year, all attention has focused on this seminal anti-war effort which has lost none of its power to move and enthrall.
Here’s my late-night knee jerk reaction to The Fall. Spoilers ahead, obviously.
Like you, Craig, I was left slightly disappointed — primarily because I thought the film lingered too long in its sumptuous fantasy world and neglected the real-life drama going on in the hospital. I would’ve liked to see more of Alexandria and Roy because they were the heart and soul of the story. The whole Nurse Emily entering the fantasy world seemed a little half-baked, as well, because she plays such a minor role in the real world action. I didn’t completely buy the fact that Roy would take his opportunity for redemption at Alexandria’s bedside to kill off all of his characters and inflict more psychological trauma on the little girl. It felt too cold and abrupt.
Finally, the closing scenes with the projector and the orange grove wrapped things up a little too tidily. Those scenes give the impression that the girl was just a passive conduit and didn’t take anything away from her experience. She’s even naive enough to believe that Roy miraculously recovered and is performing stunts in her favorite films.
The Fall is a gorgeous film with a beating heart at its center, but I wish the plot had been better developed. It’s disappointing to find that it fell just short of a larger, overarching achievement.
My problem is kind of similar. I enjoyed the fantasy stuff, but like I said, knowing it was made up made it kind of dramatically weightless. The real interest was in the ‘real world’ but it didn’t have much juice to it.
More emphasis on the real story would’ve had a bigger impact for me.