Looking around on the HTF search engine, only two entries turned up: an empty press release thread by Ron Epstein and a thread in the Movies section with nine replies.
If you have a BluRay system... and an imagination, you owe it to yourself to rent, buy, trade for, or borrow Tarsem's The Fall. I'm not big on writing reviews, so pardon my rambling...
This is one of the best films I've seen and one of my all-time favorites. It's impossible to describe the film without giving an extensive essay or making a cheap comparison blurb. It's a beautifully shot film that has equally beautiful performances from the leads and an intelligent plot. This isn't a movie you can watch while doing other work. It's also an ode to storytelling itself.
Most of the cast is made up of unknowns (all of which I'm unfamiliar with), but I've heard good word about Lee Pace from Pushing Daises. He pulls the film perfectly, given he is narrator and plays more than one character. Catinca Untaru never made a film before and seems to have not made one since, yet she puts trained actors to shame with her graceful part as a young girl. I don't want to spoil anything since going in cold makes it more enjoyable.
The highlight of the film is the introduction of characters in the story within the film. That's exactly where you will pick up on the tone this film takes.
To tie this in with home theater technology, this is a film that requires the best presentation to properly render the exquisite visuals and soundtrack. While I wish I had seen this in 35mm first, HD was a good surrogate. I don't recommend seeing this in standard def as it doesn't allow for the immensity of details in the locations to be visible. The soundtrack is quite complex, with just as many layers to the audio as the story. Without clear playback, you'd miss a lot of details in the plot.
I can't think of anything wrong with the image as it always looked like film. It was apparently shot on Super-35 (for 1.85:1) and had a 4K digital intermediate. Had I known this movie existed last year, I would have voted it as BluRay "transfer" of the year. My only complaint is that the wonderfully edited montage at the end could have used better source materials.
This seems to be one of those films that comes out of nowhere, is seen by few, and worthy of being rediscovered. Few movies have this much love put into them by the filmmakers. I'm unfamiliar with Tarsem's other work, but if this is what he's capable of - I want to see more. The Fall is thrilling, charming, despaired, inspirational, funny, and visually stunning - often all at the same time.
I'm hoping I'm not the only one who loved this film, not to mention its presentation on BluRay.
If you have a BluRay system... and an imagination, you owe it to yourself to rent, buy, trade for, or borrow Tarsem's The Fall. I'm not big on writing reviews, so pardon my rambling...
This is one of the best films I've seen and one of my all-time favorites. It's impossible to describe the film without giving an extensive essay or making a cheap comparison blurb. It's a beautifully shot film that has equally beautiful performances from the leads and an intelligent plot. This isn't a movie you can watch while doing other work. It's also an ode to storytelling itself.
Most of the cast is made up of unknowns (all of which I'm unfamiliar with), but I've heard good word about Lee Pace from Pushing Daises. He pulls the film perfectly, given he is narrator and plays more than one character. Catinca Untaru never made a film before and seems to have not made one since, yet she puts trained actors to shame with her graceful part as a young girl. I don't want to spoil anything since going in cold makes it more enjoyable.
The highlight of the film is the introduction of characters in the story within the film. That's exactly where you will pick up on the tone this film takes.
To tie this in with home theater technology, this is a film that requires the best presentation to properly render the exquisite visuals and soundtrack. While I wish I had seen this in 35mm first, HD was a good surrogate. I don't recommend seeing this in standard def as it doesn't allow for the immensity of details in the locations to be visible. The soundtrack is quite complex, with just as many layers to the audio as the story. Without clear playback, you'd miss a lot of details in the plot.
I can't think of anything wrong with the image as it always looked like film. It was apparently shot on Super-35 (for 1.85:1) and had a 4K digital intermediate. Had I known this movie existed last year, I would have voted it as BluRay "transfer" of the year. My only complaint is that the wonderfully edited montage at the end could have used better source materials.
This seems to be one of those films that comes out of nowhere, is seen by few, and worthy of being rediscovered. Few movies have this much love put into them by the filmmakers. I'm unfamiliar with Tarsem's other work, but if this is what he's capable of - I want to see more. The Fall is thrilling, charming, despaired, inspirational, funny, and visually stunning - often all at the same time.
I'm hoping I'm not the only one who loved this film, not to mention its presentation on BluRay.
