Movie: The Fall (2006)

'The Fall, directed by Tarsem Singh is set in a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s L.A..  An injured stuntman begins to tell a little girl with a broken arm a fantastic story about 5 mythical heroes.  Roy fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale unfolds.'  

This shining jewel of a movie is still stunningly beautiful after all these years. It came out in 2006 and took Singh four years to complete, compiling stock footage from over 20 different countries. 

This movie has great story telling and is visually captivating.  The characters are lovable and fallible to a fault and make you laugh and cry with them as the adventure advances. Roy, the stunts man played by Pace is injured during a stunt and his love leaves him for another. Heartbroken, Roy wallows in his sorrows in the hospital in the middle of no where and befriends a little girl, Alexandria - Catinca Untaru, with a broken arm. Roy asks Alexandria to get morphine pills, not only to dull his pain but to end his painful existence. In order to entice Alexandria to do his bidding, he tell her stories, not unlike Scheherazade, ending the story at an engaging moment only to continue the following day when he can get more pills from Alexandria.  

The story is rather sad in respects to love and loss and also letting go and healing.  Roy, broken both physically and emotionally has given up on life and relies on little Alexandria to give him the tools he needs to end his woeful existence. Alexandria, youthful, innocent and naïve, believes anything that Roy tells her and wants to try and help her new friend that is injured. At the end, Alexandria proves to be enough of a friend to help Roy get past his gloomy outlook in life and try to keep living. 

When Roy tells the story, there are scenes where they break that 4th wall, sometimes in crucial moments to remind the watcher, this isn't just some epic movie we are watching but a visualization of the little girls vast imagination. It was a really cute device to refocus on who this story is really meant for add a bit of levity to what would have been a serious moment. This bit may be over done at times in many movies since 2006 but breaking the 4th wall in this manner even predates Drunken History, so it was a fresh and novel idea. 

The costumes are stunning and the imagery on screen are so memorable, you can't help but stare in awe for the 1 hour and 57 minutes it's on screen.  The fall takes you on a journey within the confines of a recovery hospital but entraps you on a singular island in the middle of the ocean, a vast dessert, a myriad of mazes, isolated palaces and gets you lost in breath taking architecture.

The main characters are played by Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hobbit, the Soldier Boy) and Catinca Untaru.  These two are absolutely magical together as the wounded actor and imaginative little girl. Pace is an excellent actor but the Untaru is extremely expressive and sincere in her role that this movie would not be the same without her charming performance.  

 'The Fall' is a fantastic with a little adventure story that sweeps the viewer to the far ends of the earth with a hopeful outlook on chance meetings and getting back up that horse after a huge spill.