I watched The Fall last night and I completely loved it. Since it was directed by Tarsem Singh, former music video director (REM’s Losing My Religion) and director of The Cell (with J-Lo), I expected it to be visually impressive. And it was. Tarsem filmed in over 20 countries, including a stunning set of backgrounds, some of which I’ve been to (namely Jaipur’s Jantar Mantar and Fatehpur Sikri). The plot struck the right balance of real events and fictional, two separate storylines eventually bleeding into one another. I was reminded slightly of Terry Giliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

What really sold it for me, though, was the performance from Catinca Untaru, the little girl at the center of the plot. I read later that parts of her performance were improvised, completely natural and that showed. Minutes after she came on the screen, I knew I was in the movie. Lee Pace (of Pushing Daisies) also gave a fine performance.

One of my favorite part (which I hope is not too much of a spoiler) is when Lee Pace’s character, Roy Walker, confined to a bed in a California hospital, tells Untaru’s character, Alexandria, a story. One of the characters is an Indian, a Native American, clear from the vocabulary that Roy uses (squaw and teepee and so forth). However, Alexandria’s reference for Indian is the Asian Indian that helped her family pick oranges, so in the visual representation of the story, he’s clearly the Eastern type. That was what completely sold me on the film.

The ending gets a little melodramatic, but not in a way that detracts from the film. I would recommend it, especially for anyone interested in fantasy.