Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Andrew Schneider This movie has my vote for the worst movie ever made. Other candidates, such as "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and "Manos: The Hands of Fate," are at least amusing, if unintentionally so. "The Falls," however, doesn't even have this advantage. Instead it is just excruciatingly long, boring and repetitive, telling an absurd number of supposedly linked vignettes about victims of some undefined apocalyptic event. The victims profiled, most of whom have developed some sort of bizarre physical or psychological handicap as a result, have nothing in common other than that the first four letters of their last name are "F-A-L-L," hence the title. There is a theme, but no plot and no particular reason to care about anyone in the film. I sat through this monstrosity while in college. When the theater brought up the lights for an intermission, halfway through the 185 minute film, at least two-thirds of the audience got up and walked out. It was that bad.

rooprect 10 minutes into the film, I had to check to make sure this was the right movie. 20 minutes into it, I had to make sure it was indeed Peter Greenaway, and not his evil afterbirth, who directed this. 40 minutes into it, I had to check my pulse for signs of life.I am not too familiar with the work of Peter Greenaway (_The Cook_ being the only film of his I've seen), but based on this experimental rambling, I don't think I want to.If you loved _The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover_ for its visual brilliance, compelling story and vivid acting, I ASSURE YOU, YOU SHALL RUE THE DAY YOU EVER POPPED _THE FALLS_ INTO YOUR TV SET. This film is little more than a Monty Python skit dragged out for 2 hours. The joke is over in the first 5 minutes. Don't waste your lives. Save yourselves. Alas, it is... too late... for me... beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Chris Bright I'm pleased to see so many positive reviews of this unique film. I entirely agree that it needs to be seen in a cinema to get the full relentless effect. It's also worth persevering to the end as Greenaway lightens up a bit and gives you a few more clues. In a way it's a shame that he got drawn into narrative cinema after this because The Falls seems a much more original and appropriate vehicle for his talents.As with his earlier short films, various bits of disparate footage, old photos and other assorted nonsense are woven together with an elaborate cover story, in this case the Violent Unknown Event, which among other things is a metaphor for nuclear calamity (92 is the atomic number of uranium, "Fall" can refer to the fall of man).Along the way we find a cornucopia of references to Greenaway films past and still to be made - principally A Zed and Two Noughts and Drowning by Numbers - running gags, in-jokes, academic pastiche, whimsical storytelling, different film techniques and ways of constructing reality. Where the average video artwork concentrates on form and style, Greenaway gives us an overdose of content.It's worth noting that the 92 biographies in the film represent only those victims of the VUE whose names begin with the letters FALL. If you take the whole alphabet into account there are 19 million cases. You get the feeling he really, really wanted to show all 19 million.Greenaway's new project "The Tulse Luper Suitcase" is apparently a remake or extension of "The Falls" using more modern technology. A definite must-see but it will be hard to top this for sheer demented monomaniacal verve.

kdufre00 I consider myself a fan of Peter Greenaway, and maybe since I only sat through 20 minutes of this movie, I shouldn't be giving it such a harsh review. But I can't help myself. I can't believe people actually liked this movie. I thought it was sheer torture! I went to a screening of this movie with my sister at the Harvard Film Archive a few months ago. After ten minutes of sitting through unintelligible dialogue and grainy photography, I thought to myself, "I have to sit through 3 hours of this?!" To my relief, my sister shared my feelings about the movie and we left the screening after another generous ten minutes.I hope I am not offending any ardent Greenaway fans out there. I like his movies too! I even met him 3 years ago at the Boston premiere of "The Pillow Book." I consider myself an intelligent person, and I like to see plenty of experimental movies. After reading the above comments on "The Falls" however, I am amazed that other people understood what it was about....and actually sat through it!