A Beautiful Fall

When some think of a neglected arthouse film, the image that comes to mind is a modern, avant-garde affair that looks into the abyss of the human condition and returns with stylishly esoteric profundity–all on a shoe-string budget, backyard sets, and a cast of newly-graduated drama majors. By this logic, though privately financed, minimally distributed, and completely unconventional, “The Fall” barely qualifies as arthouse. It is simply art.

In a 1915 Los Angeles hospital, a young Romanian girl named Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) recovers from a broken arm. Her boredom and curiosity lead her to discover Roy (Lee Pace from Pushing Daisies), a silent movie stuntman crippled during a shoot. Apparently amused by the girl, Roy spins a fantastical story about five eccentric heroes and their quest to bring down an evil governor. Thereafter, the film alternates between the hospital and storyland, with aspects of each entwining and coloring the other.