The last time mono-monikered wunderkind Tarsem was heard from was at the dawn of the millennium with The Cell, a serial-killer flick that would be easy to forget were it not for an appearance by J-Lo as a brilliant psychologist (a casting choice second only to Jessica Alba as a brilliant geneticist in Fantastic Four) and a sprinkling of visuals that can only be described as breathtaking.
The Fall, Tarsem's first feature film in seven years, is basically The Cell with those stunning visual sequences allowed to run pretty much uninterrupted for nearly two hours. Unfortunately, the downside here is that Tarsem's new opus is so stuffed with flamboyant images that there doesn't seem to be much room left for a story, and anything resembling a coherent plot is essentially jettisoned. The narrative, such as it is, involves a recuperating stuntman (Lee Pace), broken in body and spirit, lying in a hospital bed telling stories to an adorable little girl (Catinca Untaru) who turns out to have a few problems of her own. It soon becomes clear that the stuntman's constantly morphing tale of larger-than-life Munchausen-esque heroes and villains is being filtered through the little girl's imagination, loosely positioning The Fall with films like Paperhouse and Pan's Labyrinth, in which fantasy and reality blur through a child's perspective.
It's all quite beautiful to look at but enigmatic almost to a fault, with the tone wobbling between whimsical and glumly pretentious. The Fall was clearly a labor of love for Tarsem, who self-financed it from his commercial work and profits from music videos like R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion," but I'd be hard pressed to say what any of it means. Even those luxurious visuals are probably better digested in small servings, and over the course of 116 minutes, it all begins to look just a little too slick and superficial, not unlike a very gorgeous but very, very long music video.
The Fall (R) Stars Lee Pace, Catinca Untaru, Justine Waddell and Daniel Caltagirone. Opens May 30 at Tampa Theatre. Call theater to confirm. 3 stars
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2008.
