The Falling

If a David Lynch-obsessed, trench coat wearing first-year film student was to make a movie that crossed Red Shoe Diaries with Kurosawa's subjectively obsessed Rashômon, it might look a little something like The Falling, a movie that while not without merit, is far too melodramatic and awkwardly scripted to succeed. While the notion of presenting three different perspectives of a relatively modern relationship triangle — the film was made in 1998 — is certainly interesting, as is the obvious supposition that there is no objective reality, the film delves more into Robber Bride territory by having each perspective consist only of minor truths, with overt lies at the forefront. This particular notion implies more about the fallibility of mankind than the sort of existential feelings that some of the dialogue suggests. A greater attention to realistic dialogue and ironic dual storylines could have helped The Falling escape its more amusing and routine trappings but as it exists, the movie is little more than a badly lit investigation of breasts, overt colour schemes and introductory film theory. As a slightly more academic erotic thriller, the plot covers a single story from three different perspectives, each painting a very different series of events. The few facts that emerge involve the meeting of Karis (Nicole Oliver) and Lars (Christopher Shyer) at a bar, which results in a night of a sex and the unexpected arrival of Karis's ex, Morgan (Rob Lee), a police officer. As both men are interested in Karis, they are expectedly territorial, fighting each other off and creating perpetual drama, which inevitably leads to a variety of emotional showdowns. Complicating this issue is Simon (John Cassini), Karis's friend, who also has feelings for the seemingly irresistible lass. The DVD includes no additional features and is presented in the old school 4x3 aspect ratio.