The Fall

The Fall is a 2006 film, directed by Tarsem Singh, which was recommended to me by my French teacher last year, and thanks to LoveFilm I have finally got my hands on it.

The film follows a little girl, Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) who has broken her arm and is staying in a hospital in 1920s Los Angeles. She befriends Roy (Lee Pace), who is a stunt man who breaks his leg in a fall. In order to get her to smuggle him morphine, Roy tells Alexandria a fantasy story featuring a Bandit (Pace), a bomb expert Luigi (Robin Smith), an Indian (Jeetu Verma), an ex-slave Otta Benga (Marcus Wesley) and Charles Darwin (Leo Bill), all united in their quest to kill Governor Odious (Daniel Caltagirone).

It's a wonderful film, and the story begins to mingle with reality as Alexandria uses people around her as characters within the story, and she herself eventually enters the story of as the Black Bandit's daughter. To me, the clear example of that was when Roy (an American) talks about an Indian meaning a Native American, yet Alexandria (who apparently comes from Eastern Europe) pictures him as a genuine Indian, based on a man who picks orange with her. The other characters are also based on people around the hospital, including an orderly (Bill) and a kindly nurse, Evelyn (Justine Waddell) who appears as a love interest for the Black Bandit.

The design for the film was incredible. The costume designs by Eiko Ishioka are stunning and the cinematography, both in Los Angeles and in the tale were both wonderful, very cinematic and embodies the childhood imagination.

The two central performances by Pace and Untaru are both wonderful. Pace, who I'd only seen every so often as Ned in the comedy Pushing Daisies brings a lot of depth to the character of Roy, who has a much darker edge. Untaru gives the performance of the film; she gives the character a natural edge which is sometimes missing from child actor performances. The pair have a brilliant chemistry together, there are some very touching scenes with the pair together.

Other good performances come from Marcus Wesley as the ex-slave, Leo Bill as Charles Darwin, Elvira Deatcu, who appears very briefly as Alexandria's mother and Camilla Waldman as a grieving mother.

I really recommend this film, although not necessarily that much happens, the central relationship is lovely, and is worth watching.