The Fall (2006)

Genre: Fantasy/Drama
Starring: Lee Pace, Catinca Untaru
Directed by: Tarsem Singh

My interest in this film was brought about by two things: 1) the People of the Internet said it was pretty and 2) Lee Pace is in it. Because of my deep love of Lee Pace (aka Ned from Pushing Daisies!), I feel the need to support his work in any way I can, except I just can't make myself watch some of the seemingly garbage movies he's been in (Marmaduke and, soon, Breaking Dawn). Instead, I choose to view the films of his that don't seem awful, such as this one.

And now, having seen it, I must say that Lee Pace needs to do more things as awesome as this because my goodness, I really loved it.


My man plays Roy Walker, a silent film stuntman. However, his career has been put on halt because his latest big stunt left him bedridden and potentially paralyzed. Now he's in the hospital, where he meets fellow patient Alexandria (Catinca Untaru). Because even six year olds cannot resist Lee Pace, she begins hanging around him to hear the fantastic, epic tales he tells. The epic comprises half the film, but the real world tells another tale-- of Roy, who wants to kill himself, and Alexandria, who he tries to get to help him, and their developing friendship.

The thing that has helped propel this film into the heart of the People of the Internet is how visually stunning it is even when Lee Pace is not on screen. The epic tale Roy tells is freaking gorgeous. I was excited every time it was time to see his fictional story be told, because I'd be treated to images like this one:

hnnng

The pretty was just lovely. The colors, the scenery, the wide shots that showed them both off. So great. I wished for more from the epic, as it often felt like the events that happened didn't matter too much as long as it was gorgeous, but whenever I wished that, I would get distracted by the beauty and not care as to what was going on. Oops?

It's hard to balance two stories within a film though, which is why I understand that neither the fantasy nor the reality are particularly awe-inducing. However, I did like both stories, particularly the realistic one, involving Roy and Alexandria's developing friendship. Alexandria is about the cutest child ever, and putting her with Roy made me almost explode from the amount of adorable. That is, when they weren't breaking my heart. Of course, any story involving a man who wants to kill himself is going to be freaking depressing, but add a child into that mix and it just gets ten times sadder. I was most definitely close to tears watching the pair as Roy got even worse.

The Fall probably would have benefited from a bit more story in its two stories, but, yeah, I don't really care. I loved this movie for its emotion, beauty, and fantastic leading characters. As soon as I finished watching it, all I wanted to do was watch it again.