Runtime:
102 minutes
Release
Date: April 24, 2014
Rating:
?
Director:
Carol Morley
The
Falling is one of those movies that the roommate and I picked up at
Family Video because of the box art and the synopsis on the back.
While we got through the whole movie, I can safely say that it's not
one I would ever watch again.
Set in
the turbulent 1960s, the film tells the story of a young teenage girl
named Lydia. She lives alone with her mother, who has a fear of going
outside and spends most of her time holed up in her own bedroom.
Lydia becomes friends with Abbie. While Lydia is quiet and meek,
Abbie is boisterous and out of control. She loves telling her friend
about her sexual exploits.
When
Abbie dies, Lydia finds herself taking on her former friend's role in
school. Though she abstains from sexual intercourse, she does form a
strange relationship with her own brother. That leads to her
suffering from a fainting spell, but when she faints multiple times,
the doctors cannot determine the cause. To make things even worse,
the other girls in her new group of friends suddenly begin passing
out as well, creating an epidemic in their small town.
The
Falling is a strange movie that got some great reviews, but after
watching it, I feel like I must have missed something. It literally
has an average rating of 7+ out of 10 on some sites, but I have
absolutely no clue why. It's an incredibly confusing movie that goes
from nothing happening to major information thrown at you in short
chunks. I had a hard time following it, and my roommate even fell
asleep halfway through and went to bed without finishing it.
We are
both fans of a Japanese movie called Stacey about teenage girls who
become zombies after having sex, and the plot of this movie made it
seem like it might be somewhat similar. It is absolutely nothing like
that movie. The Falling is really confusing.
Lydia
goes from being this meek and quiet girl to someone who bats her
eyelashes at her brother and wonders out loud why he doesn't look at
her the same way he did her friend. Then she can't understand why her
mother flips out when she finds them going at it in their bed. It
also features an incredibly weird and confusing ending that left me
wondering what the hell just happened.
If
you're looking for an answer as to what happened to the girls and why
they suddenly started fainting all over the place, don't look at me.
The Falling never bothers to explain that crucial piece of
information. It's apparently just something like hysteria, where all
the girls want to pass out because the other girls do. I really
didn't like the movie, and I really don't want to watch it again.