♥♥♥♥
+ Best Drama of the Year
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| A little boy by his father, back from hunting, holding a dead duck in his hands, make up this evocative poster for Viggo Mortensen's Falling |
A middle-aged gay man is taking his old father with him from his primitive farm home back to his own in California, because the old man is suffering from dementia and cancer. But the father's enmity strikes up conflict and old memories.
Falling is written and directed by Viggo Mortensen (Ruby Cairo (1992, actor)), one of the best actors of our time, who debuts with it and also co-stars and has composed the film's unnoticeable score. He dedicated the film to his brothers, and it is somewhat based on dynamics and situations from their own family, and his experiences with both of his parents suffering from dementia.
Mortensen is a graceful, incredibly forgiving and patient good son to his difficult father in the film, played with much verve by Lance Henriksen (Dorothy and the Witches of Oz (2012)), a man whose slipping into dementia also finds him forgetting basic social limits to speech and behavior, but especially his speech which is continuously vulgar, unrestrained and offensive. The film confronts us with the fact that certain prejudices may go out of control and out of the mouth of someone with this sad disease, and Falling makes it both grueling and sometimes funny to witness these intense lashing-outs.
Sverrir Gudnason (Borg vs. McEnroe (2017)) is forceful as the younger version of Henriksen, a compelling, masculine man who is nevertheless twice unsuccessful in his major relationships with women. The film indicates this is due to his tyrannical side and unwillingness to compromise and show care, but it doesn't spell out the marriages and their falls for us. Laura Linney (The Nanny Diaries (2007)) shows up in a long, good scene as Mortensen's sister. Terry Chen (Continuum (2012-15)) is good as Mortensen's husband, and Gabby Velis is very sweet as their adopted daughter Monica.
Though a veteran actor and gifted multi-hyphenate, Mortensen is on new ground here as a director, and he charges a layered and difficult drama with personal stakes and admirable guts. Falling is not a plot-driven film; it goes sideways a little here, a little there, but the performances and material, - and the constant feeling of a thoughtful artist behind it all, - makes it compelling still. It is a far cry from the polished feel that made Mortensen's recent turn in super-success Green Book (2018) a global crowd-pleaser. But it grapples with real life and issues with tenacity and boldness, and it feels incredibly authentic. Don't miss it, if it's in a cinema near you.
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The day after ... the Oscars 2017
Oscars 2017: Predictions and Film Excess' favorites
Captain Fantastic (2016) - Ross' riveting film of fatherhood is a powerful must-see (star)
The Two Faces of January (2014) - Amini's debut is a delicious but slight Greek period adaptation (co-star)
On the Road (2012) - Salles' near-perfect adaptation (co-star)
Appaloosa (2008) - Best traditional American western in 16 years (co-star)
Eastern Promises (2007) - Cronenberg invites us to meet the Russian mob in London (co-star)
A History of Violence (2005) - Cronenberg's powerful rumination of our violence (co-star)
Cost: Unknown
Box office: 17k $ and counting
= Too early to say
[Falling premiered 31 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 112 minutes. Mortensen took up co-starring in the film to secure financing. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, and in Ontario, Canada, including Toronto, from February - April 2019. The film has only released gross numbers from Slovenia and Russia so far, which come to tiny 17k $. The film is set to release in 7 more markets in coming months, including the UK and Germany. It does not have a North-American release set yet, and obviously its release is marred considerably by the China Virus pandemic. Mortensen does not have another project announced as a filmmaker, but he is starring in two projects that are in pre-production. Henriksen returned in 3 TV-series prior to his theatrical return in The Unhealer (2020). Falling is fresh at 65 % with a 5.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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