This is "Falling", a coproduction between Canada, the UK and Denmark that runs for slightly over 110 minutes and is a 2020 release. It is primarily in the English language and has mostly garnered attention for being the first filmmaking effort by Viggo Mortensen, a three-time Academy Award nominated actor (two times not too long ago), and despite being over 60 now (while still looking about a decade younger), he has never written or directed a movie before. And that is absolutely not all of it as he also came up with the score for this film and played some of the piano tunes in here himself. And, almost self-explanatory, he also acts and plays the second-biggest character you could say. So it is a project that is certainly close to his heart for all kinds of reasons. A very personal project. I was lucky enough to be in a screening that had Mortensen there and he talked a bit about the film, for example about the personal impact. The scene with the lucky shot to kill the duck (you see on the poster) was one from his own childhood. Other than that, it is mostly a fictional movie though. Lead actor Lance Henriksen was also part of this screening via webcam and he said for example that the scene in which the young father apologizes to his son early on for bringing him to this world is one from his life, so further personal impact. Henriksen plays the character that is most central in the movie. He is 80 years old now and "only" 18 years older than Viggo, but the fact that he plays his dad also shows that Viggo does not look his age. Anyway, Henriksen is really more at the center of this film than everybody else. Somebody also said during the screening that he deserves an Oscar for his performance. Now I do not really know about that, but he was certainly really good. Still funny how somebody in the audience asked a question and said something like how she loved and hated the character in some kind of pseudo-deep analysis, but Henriksen almost interrupted her and said indirectly that it's nonsense and there is nothing to like about his character at all. I agree for sure. Really despicable old man. A hardcore conservative as we see early on when he is not too happy about these Muslim women at the airport, but his statements on McCain, on gays, on women (often graphically translated, even in the last sequence) and all kinds of other aspects make it obvious. He loves guns and hunting too. Almost a bit too much honestly now thinking about it, but not surprising. Viggo has always been part of very liberal Hollywood and he definitely is not a minority there. Anyway, as for the basics of this film, there is more to add. I think this aired at Cannes, although not entirely sure. Which probably had more to do with the man who made this and his name and successes than the film itself. Overall, the reception was lukewarm. Not too great by critics, but also not bad. Still not good enough to safely say that great awards attention overall, especially for Henriksen, is going to follow. Mortensen's character here was only somebody observing his father than really one with the material to shine. Only exception is the scene when it becomes almost a physical fight in the end and there Viggo can also go all in with his character and let out all the emotions that are brought to light through the constant humiliation. So Mortensen was not only an observer as the director, but also his character here was the same. But like I said, for a rookie project it is a very nice outcome and you can definitely see that Mortensen worked with some filmmaking greats over the years and took something from it.
I also liked the attention to detail on several occasions and I do not have too much negative to say here. Maybe a chronological order would have been better, but this is just subjective taste as I always prefer that. Or maybe with what they actually went for, I would have preferred a slightly lower amount of flashbacks perhaps. There were many. By the way, Viggo said before the screening that he felt as if he was bringing his child to school for the first day with this movie, to a German school. Just quickly came to my mind in addition to all I wrote before. Back to the movie, one reference I liked was the bird reference. We have the duck scene which basically marks the beginning of the struggles between the two parents when daddy says she should leave the duck with him and the next day she complains about the volume of the music and he turns it off altogether and she says that is not what needed to be done. More examples. But with the birds I mean that there is some sort of cute happy ending that the dead duck decades ago in the house was followed by those tiny birds alive up there at the same house when the old man returns and that, despite the negative things that happened there, he still love the place as we hear from one grumpy statement of agreement when his son say it is a beautiful place. There are more smart metaphors and symbolisms. I think Viggo did a really nice job there. Again the house: The film basically begins with the young couple arriving there and it ends with the old man alone at the house. The woman has died a long time ago and yet he fantasizes about something similar. The character definitely perceived women more like objects. More animal references include horses, deer and I think one or two others. Speaking of deer, the sequence when the boy is supposed to shoot one is also among the most memorable, again with the parallel to the scene when he shoots the duck. This scene was so easy and effortless, but the scene with the deer is so full of pain and disappointment, even if daddy says it is alright. Things have changed. People have changed. There are more moments in these flashbacks in which we see that the father also was really aggressive, like when he spits on the floor as his wife is about to leave him. Or when he attacks his own son while on horseback. It all makes sense with the final escalation scene in the now during which the father attacks the son again as well. Oh yes, by the way, Laury Linney is in this movie too. But she only has one scene. I'm fine with that. I don't particularly like her, even if she was alright during said scene. This scene was by the way also one example of how the father is declining mentally as well with one specific, pretty juicy thing he says to his daughter. There are many more examples and these kinda work in the old man's favor and show that he cannot be blamed entirely for his actions. However, we should not forget that he was also scum already when he was considerably younger. Also would like to mention Sverrir Gudnason, who physically reminded me a bit of Andrew Scott. He played his part really well. It was perhaps the second most challenging role of the movie and he made it work. Also pay attention to how this film with the three protagonists is a big mix of Scandinavian people with the -sens/sons at the end of their names, even if the two older guys are North Americans obviously, both from New York even. Born there. Okay, I think this is all now about the film. There are certainly scenes and twists that deserve a few words on them too, but I don't really want to go any further into detail now. I think this was a good film with one or two great moments and those who like Viggo should certainly check it out. For me it was a highlight to see him in person a second time (this time at Kino International) and he seemed really chatty as well despite driving all night from Belgium as he let us know. The title, even if he explained why he chose that one, I am not entirely fond of and I think they could have found something that suits the movie better, but this pretty general choice is not too bad either. The song during the closing credits also did not do too much for me and felt a bit out of place. Still I give "Falling" a thumbs-up overall and there is no doubt or hesitation for me in doing so. Go check it out.
