Saturday, December 06, 2008

The Fall

The Fall / The Fall. IN/GB/US (c) 2006 Googly Films. Presented by: David Fincher, Spike Jonze. D: Tarsem - based on Yo Ho Ho (BG 1981, D: Zako Heskija). DP: Colin Watkinson - shot on 35mm film in Super35 - Laboratoire LTC (Paris) - 4K digital intermediate - released on 35mm at 1,85:1. Duboi effects. M: Beethoven: 7. Symphony, etc. LOCATIONS: Agra Fort, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India; Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India; Andaman Islands, South Pacific, Pacific Ocean; Argentina; Bali, Indonesia; Brazil; Cambodia; Cape Town, South Africa (hospital scenes); Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic (Blue bandit jumps from bridge); Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India; Chile; China; Egypt; Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India; Fiji; Himalayas, Nepal; Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA; Italy; Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India (blue city); Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, India; Maldives; Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India; Namibia; Paris, France; Prague, Czech Republic; Romania; Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia; South Africa; Turkey; Valkenberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa (Hospital). CAST: Catinca Untaru (Alexandria), Justine Waddell (Nurse Evelyn / Sister Evelyn), Lee Pace (Roy Walker / Blue Bandit), Kim Uylenbroek (Doctor / Alexander the Great), Aiden Lithgow (Alexander's Messenger), Sean Gilder (Walt Purdy), Ronald France (Otto). 122 min. Released by Scanbox Entertainment Finland with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Jaana Wiik / Saliven Gustavson. Viewed at Kinopalatsi 5, Helsinki, 6 Dec 2008.

Brilliant visual look does not betray its digital intermediate. - Four years in the making, in 28 countries, without CG effects, financed by Tarsem, himself. - A 1915 Hollywood stuntman has broken his legs and needs morphine. He tells a fairy-tale to a little girl. It's wild and weird and a framework to some of the most breathtaking locations around the world, such as the Blue City in Jodhpur. - Cinema of attractions, indeed. Tarsem has been for 20 years a master of music videos and commercials. He made The Cell (2000), and this is his second feature. His strength is imagery, colour and music. His is not narrative cinema. But with his next feature films, one might hope, not traditional storytelling, but more structure or continuity or symphonic drive. And as with Paradjanov's Sayat Nova, shorter is better if one builds on separate, brief, stunning visual units.

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