Movie Review - The Fall

Falling for "The Fall": Sorry for the pun, but there's no other way to describe the dizzying, heart wrenching effect this film delivered for me. Yes, the visuals in "The Fall" are truly dazzling, which was to be expected from director Tarsem who specializes in creating unforgettable sights and colors on screen. What was unexpected, though, was the emotional punch the movie produced with the sweet, magical yet sad connection between an injured stuntman named Roy (the gorgeous Lee Pace) and a little girl named Alexandria (adorable Catinca Untaru). The two characters meet in a Los Angeles hospital during the 1920s where Alexandria is recuperating from a broken arm suffered in a fall while picking oranges and Roy is trying to deal with paralysis of his legs after a fall during a stunt. Roy is angry and suicidal, Alexandria is curious and full of imagination so its a match made in heaven. From his bed Roy begins telling Alexandria the epic tale of 5 mythical warriors, all of whom have been horribly wronged by the terrible Lord Odious and seek revenge. Like the little girl, we are mesmerized by the story and fascinated by its 5 wildly divergent characters: Luigi, an explosives expert (Robin Smith), the brow-stroking Indian (Jeetu Verma), the escaped slave Otto Benga (Marcus Wesley), a guy named Darwin (Leo Bill) who travels with a cute monkey companion named Wallace and the Bandit who changes form from Alexandria's dead father (Emil Hostina) to the storyteller himself (Pace) as Alexandria imagines the heroes of the story while it progresses. The characters in the stuntman's story are enthralling, but the real hook is the way in which Alexandria manages to bring Roy back from the dead, at least for awhile. We may wish for that fairytale wrap-up, but as Roy so eloquently states, "There are no happy endings with me" (a statement that made me love him all the more).

Lee Pace is very impressive as Roy, fluctuating from kindness to rage while looking mighty good doing it. I'm not usually a fan of child actors, but Untaru completely stole my heart, playing Alexandria as an old soul without a hint of preciousness or pretense. All five of the actors cast as the warriors in Roy's tale are excellent with faces and costumes that are storybook ready. This movie really made me cry, wonder, smile and simply marvel at the kind of magic I've been missing so badly during this lean season for film. Leaving the theater was like waking from a dream, blinking in the sunlight and wishing you could go back to sleep and dream it all over again.

Things to love about this movie: Mind blowing visuals; exciting locations (everywhere from India to Argentina to South Africa to China to Italy, etc.); the amazing Catinca Untaru; the beautiful "Blue City"; a thrilling underwater swim with an elephant
Things to hate about this movie: Darling little monkey Wallace is shot and killed (always a bummer for me as an animal lover)
Pleasant surprises: Good looking Lee Pace playing a very negative character; the strong, effective human element that was missing from Tarsem's previous film "The Cell"
Unpleasant surprises: No disclaimer about animal safety (hopefully only due to the fact that the film is not American produced and therefore the statement isn't required, but still bothersome)