Fall is a death-throbbing, claustrophobic survival thriller, where the audience is immersed in the sheer terror of being trapped on a 2,000-foot TV tower, and the tower is in poor condition. The movie is a brilliant representation of the breathing panic, the emotional upheaval of Becky and Hunter as they stand in an apparently unsolvable situation. What was most striking was its unrefined nature of grief, trauma, and the human desire to live despite the enormous odds. The path of Becky, a reclusive girl to ferocious strength is both heart-rending and empowering and occupies the viewers with the desperate struggle to live in Becky with the acute immediacy of the visceral.
The mood of the film is unstated and engulfing, and the bleak weather-denuded landscape of the Mojave desert is the barbaric environment in which they are forced to survive. Director Scott Mann creates an atmosphere of tension and nerves that is very thin and any little slip seems magnified and the danger of the rusty and wobbly tower adds to the tension at a very high level. The realistic impact and claustrophobic filming make the atmosphere of danger even more impressive, and the emotional revelations of the characters, in particular, the betrayal, love and loss, contribute to the add-depth of the narrative. Virginia Gardner and Grace Caroline Currey are impressive in their performances, which reflect physical fatigue and the vulnerability of their personalities.
Finally, Fall is a thrilling story of survival, trauma, and friendship when the world turns into a mess. It left me with a mixed feeling of anxiety, sympathies, and respect of the characters and their strength. The nakedness of the human nature, as shown through the film, was indelibly written in my memory as it reinforces us of the deep strength of the human spirit even when death is looming all around you.
