REVIEW: Falling (2021)
Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut, Falling, tries incredibly hard to challenge its viewers on conservatism by making Lance Henriksen’s Willis foul-mouthed bigot the central protagonist the movie. He cannot accept his son, John (Viggo Mortensen), being married to another man, living a more progressive way of life. Willis has cancer, and his mind is slowly declining, which prompts John to bring him to California in the hopes that he finds a home nearby and sells his farm. The film alternates between the “present” and the past, as we observe John’s earlier life with his father (played, in flashbacks, by Sverrir Gudnason), as audiences have to endure almost two hours of non-stop bickering by Henriksen’s character, without an ounce of nuance and character development.
If the film wants to provoke its viewers with a thoughtful commentary on conservative versus progressive politics while offering a poignant analysis of our own mortality, Falling‘s potential is present but buried inside a muddled story and cacophonic dialogue. Henriksen’s Willis fits the clichéd mold of reactionary conservatives in film. He is homophobic, a racist, and isn’t afraid to use offensive language towards his son and anyone he meets. Of course, to set the character’s personality as a vulgar grandpa who can’t seem to let go of the past is fine. Still, after 100 uses of the word “fag”, without any development happening with Willis, profanity seemed completely unnecessary. There’s never a moment where Willis grows as a character.
Mortensen traps his script very early on, where the only thing Willis will ever do is bicker at everyone and start a shouting match. That’s it. There’s also never a moment where the audience will attach themselves to Willis, as most films involving a crude father/grandfather will include emotional attachment and growing. They will eventually feel or at least understand the character’s bitterness towards society and life. None of that ever happens in Falling. We’re stuck with two political extremes, without any form of exploration and challenge towards John and Willis.
The “core” of the film’s quasi-character development is presented through flashbacks, which give us very little insight into Willis and John. Sverrir Gudnason’s performance as Young Willis is actually better than Henriksen’s due to the sole fact that he isn’t spewing obscenities every two seconds. There’s a legitimate care for making Willis as interesting as possible, but that potential in flashbacks is tarnished due to the audience’s perceptions of the character in the “present.” What’s worse is that the rare moments of lucidity Willis has in the movie are unfortunately muffled through loud scenes of arguing, which makes the emotional shift feel jarring and unrewarding.
At the end of the film, the audience will feel as if they’ve learned nothing but witnessed a 114-minute shouting match that’ll only give them a splitting headache. There’s no important character development; this is superficial compared to the insane amounts of provocation Lance Henriksen needlessly shouts during the entirety of his performance. While Viggo Mortensen does a decent job as John (plus a surprising cameo from a certain director Mortensen has teamed up with multiple times), the audience will forget the enjoyable elements of the picture, as Falling is a vapid, empty shell of a drama that never lives up to the potential it has. All of the ingredients for a compelling film are there, but it seems as though they were lost in the way.
