The Fall

I had never heard of The Fall. Joe had been reading good things about it, but since it had barely had a release, we thought, how good could it be? Well, we were stunned and amazed. It is simply one of the most imaginative, cinematic, beautiful and clever films that I’ve seen in quite some time! The story, set in the 1920s, is about a paralyzed and heartbroken Hollywood stuntman who weaves a magical tale of five mythical heroes (a fey and fancy Charles Darwin with a monkey companion among them) to a little girl with a broken arm (Catinca Untaru in one of the best, most natural performaces I have ever seen by a child). There are telling and clever little details that illustrate the interactive nature of storytelling. For instance, when the stuntman tells of an “Indian” who has a wigwam and a squaw, the girl, who is from Romania and unfamiliar with Hollywood Cowboys and Indians, imagines a beturbaned Indian from India. The imagery blends fantastic and surreal elements throughout, and is so stunning that I was convinced it had to be CGI, but evidently it is not. This is the kind of whimsical, extravagant metanarrative that’s right up my alley, though I can see how one either buys it completely or hates it completely. But for me, all the threads work beautifully together to weave a tale of wonder and imagination.

So how is it that The Fall is virtually unknown? It first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006, but didn’t receive a (very limited) theatrical release in the States until 2008, and went straight to DVD in most other countries. Tarsem, whose first feature was The Cell with JLo, made the movie himself over four years and in 28 countries… that is, he financed it completely himself, outside of any studio help, so as to have complete creative control. Tarsem was hoping to get a rave review from Roger Ebert (who was a fan of The Cell) when the film premiered, but unfortunately, Ebert was ill that week, so was unable to attend. Even more unfortunately, the generally negative responses to the film at the TIFF gave it a bad rep, which it was unable to overcome, even though Ebert later gave it four stars. The film is a meta-fairy tale for adults, which made it hard to peg down and market, according to several acquisition executives. Tarsem’s reputation as a commercial and music video director worked against the film, as many saw it as thus having more style than substance. And the fact that it was self-financed gave the film a reputation as a "vanity project," unworthy of being studio-financed or distributed. What a picture this paints of how the film market works in abominable ways! How it quashes originality while bolstering mediocrity! How many other gems of movies remain unseen because of similar situations?

Fortunately, the film is slowly receiving some recognition. It’s drawn comparisons to Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, and the DVD comes as “presented by David Fincher and Spike Jonze,” which lends it their stamp of approval. It’s a shame that as a result of one poor reception at its premiere, it hasn’t had the chance to gather the audience it deserves. I say, go see it ASAP! Maybe it can gain a second life on DVD.

The US vs. John Lennon; Helvetica

Two documentaries that we’d been wanting to see for some time! The first one was triggered by a visit to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, which was celebrating the 40th anniversary of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s famous 1969 Bed-in for Peace, held in Suite 1742 of Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel. We decided to watch The US vs. John Lennon a few days after seeing the MMFA show. It was a good, straightforward documentary, following Lennon’s peace activism (including the bed-ins) and his battle with the USA who wanted to deport him. There were a few overused effects that highlighted attempts to add interesting visuals to the talking heads, which were overall a bit annoying. But such a great subject!

On the other hand, Helvetica is a documentary about a font. Yup! But it’s also, of course, about the impact of visual design on our everyday lives, which I found fascinating. It’s maybe a bit overlong but the montages showing the ubiquitus font in logos and signs are really well-done. Yes, it’s a beautiful font, but there were times when I thought, it would be terrible if EVERYTHING was in Helvetica. One designer in particular was denigrating “terrible 1950s design” which I love… however, other designers provided counterpoint by saying that yes, it would be very boring if there was nothing but clean design and Helvetica. Both documentaries highly recommended!

Andrei Rublev and Paul Blart, Mall Cop. Strange Bedfellows!

Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice is an incredible film of light and shadow, grace and despair, prayer and insanity. It unwinds slowly, letting you enter each moment. It was the first Tarkovsky film I’d seen. So I was looking forward to watching Andrei Rublev, which I’d brought home from the library. Ultimately, it did not disappoint, though it took us a while to get the hang of being in the movie, what with its multiple monks and painters. We finally sorted out who was who well into the film. There’s a famous scene of the "Tatares" raping and pillaging the village. We see a horse falling down stairs and being speared, and a cow on fire. We were pretty disturbed by this! I don’t think it’s right to set an animal on fire for art… and I don’t think they had stunt cows.

In complete contrast to Tarkovsky was Paul Blart, Mall Cop. Could anything be more different? Well, actually, it would have been worse had Paul Blaert been a completely horrible film. It wasn’t! I guess I had expected it to be, so with lower than low expectations, it turned out to be not bad.. and not offensive, not stupid, not mean, and not full of misogynistic sex humour. Good clean fun that you could watch with your kids/parents!

The Rapture

The Rapture (1991) was written and directed by Michael Tolkin, who wrote The Player, one of the best Robert Altman films ever! Good pedigree, I thought. Mimi Rogers gives a great performance as a telephone operator by day and sex-orgy addict by night, who suddenly finds God. Well, I must say, it was a nutso film, and just when you think you’ve gotten a handle on it, it would change directions, making 180 degree turns into a completely different kind of nutso. Yup, said Joe, there’s a lot of different crazys in there! That, however, was what made the film interesting to me. It pushed the situation into extremes, then flip. It was very theatrical, very dark, and very (if strangely) well done.

Cashback

This 2007 first feature from young Brit director Sean Ellis certainly has visual flair and a promising premise. What if you could stop time? Well, if you were a 14 year old boy, you'd look at a lot of titties. Alas, the protagonist of Cashback is not a 14 year old boy anymore, but a heart-broken art student with insomnia who works the nightshift at a supermarket whose main clientele are beautiful white women. Annoyingly, instead of just admitting that he wants to look at a lot of titties, he waxes poetic about the beauty of the female form, art, etc. etc. etc. in ways that show he is more sensitive and artistic than everyone else. In one of the many "aren't I profound" monologues, he wonders whether the girls would forgive him if they knew he has been stopping time and taking off their clothes to draw them... he likes to think they would because of his "artistic motivations" but I would say he was just a jackass. What to do when the narrator and protagonist is a jackass and an annoying little self-important prig? What to do when the director throws in a slapstick, unrelated soccer game in the middle of a saggy and boring plot? Stop watching. That's just what we did.