The Fall (2006)

☆ ☆ ½

The Fall (2006) – Tarsem Singh

Strangely unaffecting, despite the fact that it was reportedly shot in 28 countries with the express goal of making a pictorial marvel.  To be honest, I thought this was all digitally created imagery until I read otherwise (and I have very mixed feelings about CGI anyway) – but even knowing that it is “real” doesn’t change the fact that the film is boring.  (And, as a fan of the Ron Fricke cinematic travelogues, I do think that a film based on images alone can be successful).  Director Tarsem Singh (or just Tarsem) apparently paid millions of his own money to finance the four-year project that sees an injured (and suicidal) stuntman telling a fantasy story to a 5-year old immigrant girl with a broken arm and a tragic past when both are recuperating in a sanatorium in 1920s California.  The fantasy story becomes interwoven with the realities of both teller and listener – and transpires in various locales across the globe (naturally).  At times this seems pitched for children, at other times it is too dark in content (suicide, violence) to show it to them.  Give it a miss.