In Tarsem (Singh)’s film, The Fall, a girl, Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) doesn’t just experience one long bedtime story. She experiences a few. The first is about her namesake, Alexander the Great (Kim Uylenbroek), which she disliked. She prefers stories like a fictional version of Otta Benga’s (Marcus Wesley), a runaway slave who vows to avenge his brother’s death. To prevent his revenge plot’s success, his oppressor General Odious sends him to a desert island. He’s there, stranded along with five men whom the General wronged, including an Indian (Jeetu Varma), a mystic (Julian Bleach), Charles Darwin (Leo Bill), and the Black Bandit (Lee Pace). 

Their numbers increase, as they kidnap Sister Evelyn (Justine Waddell), a beautiful nun from the exotic East. While recovering from a broken arm, Alexandria hears the men’s story from the bedridden Roy Walker (also Pace). Singh beautifully balances the mostly two storylines, where Alexandria and Roy’s friendship strengthens. Roy already inserts himself into the story and things change when Alexandra enters the story as well. They’re also in a hospital where death is around the corner, doing a number on Roy’s mental wellbeing, already fragile beforehand. Roy also has more power in changing the story about the men, which may fracture his new friendship with Alexandria.

Bad filmmakers often take the easy route and the good filmmakers do it the more difficult way, and that’s not often true but it is in Tarsem’s case, a man who successfully sells fantasies. I’m lukewarm now on The Cell, although it did blow my mind when I saw it decades ago. I have a feeling that my assessment on The Fall may stay high because of its sumptuousness. Even the medium shots of real locations convey a different world where adventure, high emotions, and magic happens.

Aside from The Fall‘s transformative power, it can also convey a lot when it aims for intimacy. A cinematic rule is that wide shots are comedic, close-ups are for drama, which Tarsem mostly follows. It’s great when he breaks rules, like when Little Bandit (Untaru) puts a gun on Black Bandit’s hand. It’s a funny moment in a scene that becomes serious quickly, and Singh uses those transitions quite well. Anything can happen in a fantasy, one that has consequences in the world where Alexandria lives.

The Fall is a film that believes that more is more, an ethos it captures in every frame, as Tarsem travelled to 26 countries including his home country of India to flesh out what’s in his imagination. The locations heightens the stakes, making the men’s challenges feel insurmountable, places where the men defy certain death. I’m so glad that viewers can watch every detail and groove of this world in 4K resolution. They are watching those details as well as Lee Pace, who deserves that 4K treatment.