The Fall

Think of "The Fall" as a film snob's "Indiana Jones." A rapturous valentine to cinema's roots, this visually dazzling evocation of matinee heroes and mythmaking fancy by turns plays with Hollywood's most cherished conventions and worships art for art's sake. It's a weird and often wonderful journey over the rainbow, featuring the screen's most captivating Dorothy since Judy Garland.

In this case, the character's name is Alexandria, played in an enthralling debut by the young Romanian actress Catinca Untaru. In a Los Angeles hospital in the 1920s, Alexandria is recovering from a broken arm suffered while picking fruit with her Eastern European family; while visiting another ward she befriends a stuntman named Roy (Lee Pace), who tried to commit suicide over a broken heart. He begins to tell her a story about five epic heroes engaged in various acts of derring-do, romance and revenge, a story she visualizes by way of her own nascent understanding of the life and language around her.

Writer-director Tarsem ("The Cell"), known for his lavish visual sense, spares nothing in bringing both Alexandria's experience and consciousness to life in "The Fall," which reportedly was filmed in dozens of locations in several countries. Meticulously staged and extravagantly costumed, the film pays homage to the foundational principles of moviemaking even while sending up the cultural caricatures it went on to create. "The Fall" is often an affectionate caricature itself, but one of astonishing beauty, featuring two heartfelt performances from Untaru and the tender, often mordantly funny Pace. They're perfect foils for Tarsem's gorgeous tone poem to cinema as a medium of magic and miracles, stories and lies.

-- Ann Hornaday (May 30, 2008)

Contains violent images.