Director's visual odyssey found unexpected audience in Korea following Christmas rerelease
Few filmmakers seem to embody their film as vividly as Tarsem Singh, who showed up at Thursday's press event with the same theatrical flair that defines his newly restored work.
At Seoul's Yongsan CGV, the Indian filmmaker arrived in a pink floral jacket and yellow striped vest, kneeling amid bursts of camera flash lights.
The showy gesture sums up the spirit of his 2008 extravaganza "The Fall," which has found new life in South Korea through a 4K rerelease last December.
Tarsem likened the film's belated recognition to a child that refuses to crawl. "Then you look away, look back after 20 years, and it's running. It's a wonderful experience that it got picked up the way it did."
It is an apt metaphor for a work that stumbled at the box office, recouping barely a tenth of its budget, only to captive an audience 15 years later. That audience has emerged in South Korea, where the rerelease has now surpassed 100,000 admissions since its Christmas debut.
It's a remarkable feat for the audacious spectacle it is. Set in a 1920s Los Angeles hospital, the film follows an injured stuntman (Lee Pace) who beguiles a young Romanian girl (Catinca Untaru) with an elaborate fantasy tale, though his true motives prove darker than mere storytelling.
"I was so conceited into thinking that this film was going to last that I finished it in 4K back in 2008," Tarsem said, his characteristic bravado intact.
"It's just that people were expecting something and it didn't work. And just like fashion after 20 years, it becomes retro. They watch it neutrally and it's just a very strange story."
Shot in 26 locations across 18 countries, from Buenos Aires' arboretum to tombs in India and without any computer-generated imagery, "The Fall" is a testament to visual storytelling.
"The locations were quite magical," Tarsem said. "Adding effects would be like putting a hat on top of a hat. I wanted it clean." The result plays like a wild folly — a dizzying display of costumes, landscapes and action that wings its way through narrative logic.
Watching the film in Korea's high-end theaters, the director says, has made him feel prouder of his work. "Your cinemas are incredible. I've seen it in Imax in London, and it's nowhere near as beautiful as it looks here."
The film's emphasis on style over substance has divided critics and audiences alike, and the divide seems only likely to continue. Yet it stands defiant in its dazzling ambition — a quality that gives it an undeniable charm of its own.
"I'm a creature of extremes," the director said. "I'm OK if people say it's fantastic, and I'm OK if people say it's s---. I'm just terrified of 'it's OK.'"
moonkihoon@heraldcorp.com
