The Fall directed and (partially) written by Tarsem Singh (The Cell) proves one thing, Tarsem can direct one heck of a cinematographic masterpiece, but needs to stay away from tinkering with the storyline.
The Fall is a visual masterpiece with a haphazard storyline.
The story starts with Alexandria, a 5 year-old daughter of Romanian immigrants, meeting an injured stuntman, Roy, in a hospital set in 1920s Los Angeles. Roy has not only been temporarily paralyzed but is also dealing with a myriad of personal issues and quickly spiraling down a dangerous path, hence “The Fall”. Roy regales Alexandria with a story of 5 bandits – a motley crew consisting of a former African slave, an Indian, an one-legged explosives expert, a masked bandit and an English naturalist, all of whom share a common goal – to kill an evil Governor Odius. Between the tortured musings of Roy and the vivid imagination of Alexandria ensues a fairy tale for grown ups, the characters and props for which are drawn from Alexandria’s real life, not much unlike The Wizard of Oz. With a 5 year old girl instead of that naive nymphet Dorothy, a host of deficient heroic characters, a common quest, castles, sweeping landscapes, magic and the works, “The Fall” has it similarities to “The Wizard of Oz”, a Crique du Soleil rendition of the Oz story, that is, with the director probably tripping on ’shrooms.
What ensues is Tarsem’s trademark smorgasbord of stunning visuals and mind blowing locales. Besides Jeetu Verma’s character of the Indian swordsman, there is plenty of references to India including quality time at the Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur and the Taj Mahal. So I would absolutely recommend this movie to our readers, correct?
Not so fast, my friend. There is a major drawback to this uber tribute to cinematography – the storyline of the movie. Bouncing back and forth between Roy, Alexandria, the real world and the make believe world of the 5 bandits and their tale of love and revenge, the transition is often jerky, if not downright annoying. The storyline lacks a certain coherence required to hold the attention of the viewer. Granted some of this could be attributed to catering to a make believe fantasy story and the wild imagination of a 5 year old, there are also other aspects the movie could done better in – dialogs and acting. It appears that at some stage, Tarsem has tried to tailor the story to the cinematography, and it shows.
After reading various reviews, when I “Netflixed” this movie, I wanted to like it. At the end of a better part of two hours, the word to best describe my feeling towards this movie is “indifference”. As blown away I was by the visuals, sweeping locations and cinematography, I was equally disappointed with the haphazard storyline, sub par acting and the weak dialog writing. So would I recommend this movie to our readers? Let me put this way, watch it for its visual treats and expect nothing else. As famous movie critic, Roger Ebert, so succinctly states “You might want to see for no other reason than because it exists. There will never be another like it”.
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