In 1991, Tarsem directed
the most popular and acclaimed music video of its era, R.E.M.’s “Losing My
Religion,” and helped catapult the band into pop stardom. Although R.E.M. soon
became a household name Tarsem, a chief architect of their breakthrough
success, would go on to experience a level of relative obscurity that persists
to this day. With “Losing My Religion” Tarsem ushered in an unparalleled period
of visual creativity, nonlinear narrative, and unorthodox style that would
transform MTV into a proving ground for innovative directors on the rise. David
Fincher and Spike Jonze are just two of Tarsem’s contemporaries who benefited
from his efforts and turned MTV tenures into flourishing careers as film
directors, so it stands to reason that these two “present” Tarsem’s sophomore
feature-length film, The Fall. With this film, Tarsem seizes upon the
considerable potential for visual storytelling he first demonstrated with
“Losing My Religion” and creates an engrossing meditation on storytelling,
friendship, imagination, and redemption.
Appropriately enough,
Tarsem begins his tale of a storyteller with the statement, “Los Angeles - Once
Upon a Time.” As these words fade, a breathtaking, silent, slow motion segment
shot in black and white details the chaotic aftermath of a terrible accident
during the filming of a movie in the early days of Hollywood. The next scene
opens in sepia-tinged color on a quiet hospital where we meet Alexandria, the
precocious five year old daughter of Romanian migrant workers who broke her arm
picking oranges in the nearby groves. Alexandria should be in school or playing
with friends, but instead wanders the halls of the hospital with her awkward
cast and goes where her curiosity takes her. Soon, Alexandria’s explorations
bring her to Roy, the stuntman injured in the film’s opening segment, as he
begins a slow, troublesome recovery. Roy captures Alexandria’s interest with a
vivid, outlandish story and asks her to come back and visit him soon so he can
keep telling her the story. Alexandria returns the next day and their
relationship begins to deepen while Roy’s fantastic story grows a life of its
own with Alexandria’s imagination. Tarsem spent four years creating Roy and
Alexandria’s sprawling, boundless narrative while traveling the world and
filming dozens of the planet’s most gorgeous and spellbinding locations. While
the images of the story certainly entice the eye, The Fall’s potent emotional resonance derives
from the relationship between Alexandria and Roy. Lee Pace delivers an
unforgettably vulnerable and textured performance as Roy and shares an uncanny
chemistry with Cantica Untaru who brings a wondrous, guileless charm to her
portrayal of Alexandria.
“Losing My Religion” and
The Fall both bounce between a lush, old-fashioned setting for their
principal subjects and a fervently stylized, dreamlike realm that balances the
sacred and the profane as beautiful images inspired by classical masterpieces
exist alongside slapstick comedy and bizarre anachronisms. After a flawed and
peculiar debut, The Cell (a now forgotten Jennifer Lopez procedural from
2000), Tarsem chose to adapt an obscure 1981 Bulgarian film, Yo Ho Ho,
for his next project. In the adaptation that became The Fall, Tarsem
wisely switched the actor’s profession from the stage to the silent film era
allowing him to reflect on the formative years of cinema with a mix affection,
awe, and concern. With The Fall, Tarsem not only achieves the greatest
statement of his wholly unique artistic vision, but also creates a movie that
reminds of us of the irresistible magic of incredible filmmaking.
-
John Parsell
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