Fall (2022) — Read Along
Don’t. Look. Down.
Brilliantly directed by Scott Mann (The Tournament, Heist and Final Score) and very ably assisted by the cinematography of MacGregor and a haunting musical score from Tim Despic, “Fall” pleasantly surprised me as well as reinforcing my ageing fear of heights! I love a film or piece of escapism whereby I have to remind myself that my fears, anxieties and terrors are completely and ridiculously irrational and this film hit that mark again and again, even and especially so the seemingly calm and serene ascent up the 2,000 feet tall TV Tower or “B67”. Leaving terra firma for the ascent even on a crystal clear day had me wincing and gripping the armrest of my seat and our two on screen heroines “Becky Connor” (Grace Caroline Currey) and “Shiloh Hunter” (Virginia Gardner) were barely a hundred feet in the air!
Described as a “survival thriller” I’d argue vehemently that this film also resides in the horror/psychological horror category as Mann and MacGregor continually rotate their moving cameras around the young thrill seeking ladies amid the loosening of rusty bolts, the fraying of connecting cables and the falling rungs of the ladder they are both ascending. Connected by just harnesses and fifteen feet of rope, swirling and swooping camera angles follow the climbing ladies as we see them approaching halfway, then the turn onto an exposed, open to the elements ladder leading to their final ascent and their goal, the summit of the “fourth tallest structure in the United States”, 2,000 feet high above the desert plains below.
With the summit reached after 35–40 minutes (and a whole host of spoilers omitted because that’s never the intention of my movie appraisals), this leaves roughly an hour of a film of two young ladies stranded on a tiny square platform 2,000 feet in the air and so the obvious question is does the jeopardy sustain this cinematic hour? The answer is both yes and almost, and in equal measure. The shocking moments are truly both shocking as well as horrific and whilst the twist and the ending leave a little to be desired, by the end credits there is still a highly impressive film here.
With a supporting cast of just two principal male characters “Dan Connor” (Mason Gooding) and “James Conner” (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), your two heroines are polar opposites despite being the ultimate thrill seekers. Whereas Becky is morose, aloof and suicidal as she grieves for her deceased husband, Shiloh Hunter (commonly known simply as Hunter throughout the film or by her own Instagram moniker of “Danger D”) is incredibly bright and alive and the catalyst for the ascent. Hunter is the motivational speaker her best friend needs, forever live streaming in an internet age that sponsors and pays for such dramatic life indulgences and she fully embraces the life and the age and the freedom within which she lives as she has no shame in “Tits for clicks!”.
“If you’re scared of dying, don’t be afraid to live” so says a ghost of their combined past or more simply through the eyes of Hunter “You have to do something to feel alive”. Over three days and nights, this film reminded me of Danny Boyle’s 2010 survival/horror “127 Hours” and the central themes of survival at all costs, overcoming incredible adversity, grief, anger and the empty hollowed out feeling that death leaves us all with are all here in a film I highly recommend, but only for those that aren’t squeamish about heights!
The greatest compliment I can pay “Fall” is that this was my worst nightmare writ large for 107 cinematic minutes and I was incredibly uncomfortable for the first 40 or so of those minutes. There are unexpected shocks, genuine horrors and to use two old fashioned English phrases which I hope translate wherever in the world you read this brief spoiler free ramble, the film “gave me the willies!” and/or it “put the shits up me!”.
How’s that for a recommendation!
You think they’ll put those quotes on the promotional posters?
Should you wish to join in with the ethos and spirit of this “Read Along” series you’ll find my Youtube video in this middle of this article.
“Fall” also features within volume 2 of my 7 volumes of “Essential Film Reviews Collection” available via Amazon with all 7 volumes free to read if you have an Amazon Kindle “Unlimited” package. The same applies to the Kindle versions of my books also available on Amazon and shamelessly and proudly shown off below:
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.
