Stars: Justine Waddell, Lee Pace, Robin Smith, Catinca Untaru

Director: Tarsem Singh

Summary: Set in Los Angeles in 1915, the story revolves around a five-year-old girl (Catinca Untaru) named Alexandria, who wanders around a hospital after breaking her arm. There she meets bedridden Roy (Lee Pace of PUSHING DAISIES), a Hollywood stuntman who is paralyzed after an ill-fated attempt to impress a woman. Roy beguiles Alexandria with a tale that mirrors his own failed romance but his imagination takes it to new levels. People in the hospital appear in the story a la THE WIZARD OF OZ, but it's a surreal, fantastic epic that enchants Alexandria and convinces her to bring morphine pills to Roy so he can commit suicide.

After creating the visually impressive film THE CELL in 2000, director Tarsem Singh dropped his last name to become simply Tarsem. His follow up, THE FALL, is just as beautiful as his previous work and features a stamp of approval from David Fincher and Spike Jonze. Like those celebrated directors, Tarsem got his start in the highly visual medium of music videos, and THE FALL is appropriately one of the most striking films to hit the screen in recent memory. Set in Los Angeles in 1915, the story revolves around a five-year-old girl (Catinca Untaru) named Alexandria, who wanders around a hospital after breaking her arm. There she meets bedridden Roy (Lee Pace of PUSHING DAISIES), a Hollywood stuntman who is paralyzed after an ill-fated attempt to impress a woman. Roy beguiles Alexandria with a tale that mirrors his own failed romance but his imagination takes it to new levels. People in the hospital appear in the story a la THE WIZARD OF OZ, but it's a surreal, fantastic epic that enchants Alexandria and convinces her to bring morphine pills to Roy so he can commit suicide.


Based on the Bulgarian film YO HO HO, THE FALL is an excellent example of a triumph of style over substance. The plot is interesting and the acting is solid--particularly the work from first-time Romanian actress Untaru--but it's hard to pay attention to any of that when Colin Watkinson's cinematography and Ged Clarke's production design are so stunning. Though Tarsem is working in a vein similar to Guillermo del Toro and Terry Gilliam, THE FALL is a uniquely gorgeous work that will impress anyone who values beauty in film.

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Out of nowhere, the Western seems to be enjoying its latest mini-resurgence. And while Seraphim Falls isn’t quite as high profile as the recent 3:10 To Yuma, it’s still a solidly made piece of cinema that’s well worth spending some time with.

It centres around the search for a man named Gideon, played by Pierce Brosnan, and the reasons for said search aren’t clear at the start of the film. But what is certain is that a small party is on his trail, led by Liam Neeson’s Morsman Carver, and that Carver is very determined to get his man. From this set up, Seraphim Falls slowly unfolds as an intelligent, ambiguous mish-mash of Western and thriller, and an intriguing one at that.

Seraphim Falls, it should be said, isn’t a ride without a few problems. The pacing isn’t consistent, for instance, and the back end of the film doesn’t make the most of the build up before it. But there’s still plenty in its corner. Its two star actors are in excellent form, with both Brosnan and Neeson revelling in the complexity of their respective characters, while some sequences are genuinely exciting too.

If Serphami Falls, though, fails to quite deliver what it hints it’s capable of, then it still leaves enough in place to enjoy. Refusing to dumb down its approach, it’s a grown-up, interesting movie, and one that’s easily possible to warm to in spite of the aforementioned problems. Roll on more Westerns, say we… --Jon Foster

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Director's commentary, Cast and crew commentary, Behind the scenes featurettes, Deleted scenes
Year:	2008
Release Date:	November 30, 1999
Runtime:	112 minutes
Certification:
Keywords:	English, Fall, Fantasy, Drama, Adventure, Surreal
Genre:	Fantasy