Falling Films and Stuff

I fell over yesterday. So, on that note, here are some films that are tangentially related to falling over. Enjoy.

Falling Down

The film isn’t actually about falling down, it’s more of a metaphor. Nice. It’s one of those ‘man against the machine’ type of joints. In modern parlance, it’d be described as one of those ‘literally me’ kinds of films. You know the type. American Psycho, Fight Club, that kind of thing. That particular trend got a lot of traction courtesy of Ryan Gosling, with Drive and Blade Runner asserting the idea of the violent, quiet loner who turns the tables on The Man. Want to know more about that kind of thing? Then check out…my book. Preferably not right now. It’s still very expensive. A less expensive paperback is coming out this September. Maybe go for that. Maybe don’t.

Anyway, Falling Down sees divorced, middle-aged man D-Fens in a long road of traffic in sweltering LA. He just wants to go to his daughter’s birthday. His wife doesn’t seem so keen about that, but no matter. Eventually, D-Fens loses his cool and walks out of the car, and maybe ends up injuring and killing a few folks along the way. He loses his hold on reality a bit. He’s…falling down, if you will. It’s a great film who moral message has inevitably been misinterpreted by a variety of individuals as a kind of call to arms. An interesting watch.

The Falling

Fun fact. I could’ve been an extra in this flick. The production company sent round letters to everyone in my school year to ask if they join, but for some reason or other, I just left that letter sitting in my bag. Not sure why I did that. It was Florence Pugh’s debut film, goshdarnit. Anyway, I’ve moved on from that mistake.

The film is about a series of faintings at an all-girl’s high school. I haven’t got round to seeing it, but it seems like a good kind of mystery joint. It has a bit of a Crucible vibe to it. About people fainting. And falling over. See? Falling. You get it?

Falling

Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut also features his good self as one of the main characters. I haven’t seen this one either, but hey, it’s got another metaphorical title about Falling, so it’s all good. Mortensen plays an exasperated gay man who has to deal with his ailing homophobic father.

Apparently Mortensen didn’t want to take on the central role, but was forced to do so when no other big star was willing to apply for the position. The film has pretty average reviews by the looks of it, but hey, you’ve got to appreciate that metaphorical title.

The “Fallen” Franchise

So, according to these titles Olympus has fallen as has the grand old city of London. Except these places haven’t actually fallen. They’re not real people. They’re structures. So they can’t even stand up. Let alone fall. Because they’re not living. The titles are entirely misleading. Sure, they’re metaphors for political structures falling. But come on now. It’s not good enough. Do better.