Off the Cuff Reviews The Fall (2006)

You ever thought you had a movie pegged in the first 15 minutes only to be completely wrong? I was not expecting this movie to turn out the way it did; it really ended up surprising me. What I thought was going to be this super artsy 'all spectacle, no substance' snooze-fest ended up being a powerful story that really hit me by the end. The Fall (2006) is a very clever movie, in that I'm sure I'll pick up on things more clearly on a 2nd watch, but it was nuanced enough that the 1st watch didn't leave me in the dark. Like I said, a clever film. Starring Lee Pace as Roy Walker, Catinca Untaru as Alexandria and Justine Waddell as Evelyn.

The Fall (2006)

I feel like I should clarify something I said in the opening paragraph. I don't necessarily mean 'spectacle' as a bad thing. The beauty of an artform like film is they can be, well, beautiful. And there are those films that go for style and flair over a unique or compelling story, which isn't to say those films are bad either. They have their audience, I'm just not it. I'd prefer a pretty standard-looking movie that tells an interesting story over a beautiful one that doesn't. Of course, the ideal scenario would be a film that does both, but the balance is hard to find. This film might have found it. Not that it's incredibly stylistic to the point where it's off-putting for a general audience, but this is certainly a unique film in terms of its style... eh, like I said, it's a tough balance to hit. It's even tough to describe. I'll do my best, though.

Lee Pace as Roy

The movie is basically told in two portions. The first is what's happening in the real world, in this hospital with the young girl and the stunt double. I will say that these sections took a while to really get going for me. Without really knowing what's going on, a movie needs to grab you early to keep you invested while you figure things out, and this movie didn't quite nail that, not really piquing my interest until around the 30 minute mark, which is a lot of movie to get through before things start really getting good. I imagine that now I know what's going on, the first part of the movie will grab me more on a rewatch, but do be wary of it going in for the first time. Not to say the hospital scenes are bad, far from it. I really enjoy seeing this little community operate, especially around the little girl, who I'll get to in a bit. I think what the hospital scenes do best it set up the world we're in: the time period, the personalities, the relationship between the girl and the stunt double; it all works by the end, and, really, by the 30 minute mark.

Justine Waddell as Nurse Evelyn

The second chunk of the movie is the story Roy is telling Alexandria in a very 'Princess Bride' way, in that it doesn't matter if elements of this section are non-sensical or don't make sense, since it's unapologetically not real. I've always liked this handy work around for storytelling. You can do things like have someone be practically birthed from a tree without turning the audience off, since it's just a story being told between two characters in 'the real world'. And, as far as made up stories go, it does its job really well. It's your classic revenge story, although, really, I guess it's like 5 of them. This is where the imagery really takes over. These landscapes are stunning, and the cinematography is among the best I've seen. This story in general has that 'epic odyssey' feel to it, and you really get invested in the plight of our heroes to get revenge on Odious, even though it's all patently not real.

Leo Bill as Charles Darwin

What makes it work is something that Princess Bride didn't do, and that's the parallels between the two parts of the movie. As the movie goes on, you realise the movie is far more clever than you first thought, and the story being told by Roy has a purpose and certain elements overlap and Alexandria starts interjecting and it's all a big metaphor and... I can't say much more without giving anything away, and I really don't want to spoil anything. Basically, the entire final act of this movie is some of the most heart-wrenching, tense and meaningful storytelling I think I've ever seen. It's the kind of thing I've always wanted to write: something that seems like one thing, but ends up being something much deeper. And while I give overwhelming credit to the script for this, a lot of it goes to the acting. I see Lee Pace in a completely new light now; having only seen him as Ronan the Accuser prior to this, what a complete turnaround. And credit to Catinca Untaru as well, she has a lot to do in this movie and she turned out to be a child actor who not only wasn't unbearable, but kept up with Lee Pace, relative to her age of course. Seriously, I was on the edge of my seat for the entire climax of this movie, and nothing was really happening. That's an impressive feat.

Catinca Untaru as Alexandria

If you can get through the first 30 minutes or so, The Fall (2006) will turn out to be a movie experience you will never forget. As much as I want to, I can't really say it is perfect, since the opening scenes will turn some people away, but it's one of my personal favourites already, and I'm sure to come back to this one in the near future. 9/10.