i like ... the fall

Over the span of the past 24 hours, I've slowly been absorbing the beautiful film 'The Fall', directed by Tarsem Singh. This movie is an absolute gem, with stunning visuals, a fantastical plotline, and a wonderful lead actress. Heavily stylized, and portrayed from a child's point of view, the film is, in my opinion, quite exceptional.

There are faults with the movie, of course. The acting comes across as stilted at times, there are long sequences where nothing makes sense, and sometimes it is hard to understand the accents of some of the actors in the film. However, these flaws are minor in comparison with the absolute visual feast that this movie provides.

Take this sequence for example, of a bandit riding a swimming elephant:

It's completely surreal, beautiful, and, dare I say it (?!), magical. Moments like these fill up the movie, and that's why I love it so much. Tarsem has managed to portray on celluloid what I always dreamed of as a young girl.

Here's the officail film trailer, which does not really do the movie justice, in my opinion. However, it does hint at some of the epic scenes to be found in 'The Fall'. The director of photography in this movie deserves some sort of medal, in my opinion. Every shot could stand alone as a photograph.

And, lastly, here's a clip from the start of the movie, when the adventure begins. It's not a spoiler, so you can watch this without getting any vital information revealed about the plotline. I'm really just posting it so you can see how starkly gorgeous the visuals are in this film -- and this isn't even the half of it! Wait until the film takes place in India ... oh, gorgeous! The best part is, I've been to some of the locations that are in the movie, including the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Paris, and Prague. It's like a visual guide to some of the world's most beautiful sights.