New Year’s movies are a separate genre. Soul and lighting here are much superior in importance, the rest of the components and in this case, with this complete order.
The prologue is perhaps the only subtle moment of the picture. On the one hand, the original brings together completely different characters and gives a start to further action. On the other hand, the inner critic may begin to resent the improbability of what is happening and formally be right. But this is the case when you can and should ignore it, because the genre is definitely not about logic.
If you do not find fault and play along with the narrative, then from an artistic point of view, the film is surprisingly high-quality drama, shot in a warm lamp atmosphere of the New Year, seasoned with notes of English humor.
The story of failed suicides is undoubtedly original in itself, but the implementation did not fail. The narrative seamlessly reveals the characters and their motives. Completely different stories are gradually weaved into a single ball. All actors in their seats, even Aaron Paul in some century, somewhere other than Breaking Bad, looks harmonious.
It can be safely recommended in the New Year collection.
Very intriguing. On New Year’s Eve, Pierce Brosnan drags a ladder to the roof of a building to kill himself. It turns out that three more charismatic characters have looked at this point for themselves to put an end.
Of course, they form a conglomerate of suicides, promising each other not to kill themselves until Valentine’s Day.
Such diverse characters - perhaps everyone will find a part of themselves in them. Driven by the desire to laugh, we expect to learn how the friendships of people who seem to have no common ground will develop.
Driven by the desire to understand ourselves, we expect to know the true causes of their dislike of life. In addition to Pierce Brosnan, with his confessions, the film begins, and we think that this man is finished with life. What happened to the others?
And a little further, when the film took the viewer on the hook, from the screen measured portions give out stamps of romantic comedies - even well-known and generally accepted stamps that the viewer has been watching for a long time and will watch, but stamps - this is not what you already expect from a film with such leaven.
There will be no revelations, no unexpected plot twists.
There are no complaints to the actors - they adequately act out what the director offered them, you really empathize with them. Even the spoiled heroine Imogen Poots, who speaks perhaps more than she should, is not irritating.
The soundtrack is not impressive, not memorable. Standard music from elevators for a panorama of the big city.
The moral of the film is that a vacation at sea could save more than one suicide, and if you want to kill yourself, it’s because no one loves you.
Perhaps the director failed to convey what he wanted us to say. If so, it’s really a pity that a film with such a promising beginning turned almost into a comedy with Adam Sandler (without claims to Adam Sandler).
6 out of 10
With a successful coincidence, the picture “The Long Fall” could become, if not a high-profile project, then a hit of the season. The plot of the film was created based on the novel by Nick Hornby, who once even had an Oscar nomination for another of his books - "Education of the senses" (2008), in addition, several more of his works were filmed and the most notable of them: "My Boy" (2002), "Baseball Fever" (2005) and "Wild" (2014), and now the audience's sympathy for the film "Brooklyn" (2015) is gaining momentum. The adaptation of Hornby's novel was handled by Jack Thorne, who is best known for the mini-series franchise This Is England. The director of the film “The Long Fall” was Pascal Shomel, who hitherto was the director of the melodramatic comedies “Heart Eater” (2010) and “Married for 2 Days” (2012), in principle, very good films.
But to win the hearts of the audience, the film could because of its plot. On the pre-holiday evening, four complete strangers meet on the roof of the skyscraper and each decided to take his own life, deciding to jump off the roof of the building. Everyone has their own motives, but when each of them looks at another suicidal person, he suddenly realizes that he does not want him to do his plan. And they make a pact among themselves that they will try to live a little more, going together on a fun journey, and only then meet again on the roof to commit suicide. But as soon as the fateful hour approaches, each of them desires to do this God-pleasing act less. And all this is possible when each of them extends a helping hand to the other. But will they be able to completely free themselves from what brought them to the roof of a skyscraper one day in the pre-holiday hour? . .
Unfortunately, with such a topic, which is very, very serious and far from lyrics and chanting, "The Long Fall" was not without some shortcomings. The topic is a serious and only severe shock and psychological disorder could lead people to the decision to commit suicide, so each character required a thorough and detailed registration so that the viewer could see the origins of this decision. But perhaps only Imogen Poots’ heroine, Jess, can give a close look at the reasons for her suicide attempt. The original, unrequited love turned out to be a farce, everything lies much deeper, much more tragic. And for this there is an additional character - Sam Neal in the role of the on-screen father Jess, with the help of which a lot will be explained. And a few words about the young actress: there is an assumption that she has great potential and if everything goes well, we will all get a wonderful actress of big and serious roles. And her dress in a hospital shirt was something.
But it wasn't Poots who was the movie's main star, but rather Pierce Brosnan. The reasons for the decision of his hero are somewhat more prosaic than that of Jess, but he appeared before us in the image of a tired person who was literally pecked and slandered, made of him a bogeyman into which rotten tomatoes can be thrown. These are the roles that Pierce Brosnan would play, maybe when he stops acting like James Bond, then a womanizer over forty, his career will rush up again. The most heartbreaking emotions in the tape showed Tony Collette. Only here her heroine more want to scold angrily than to sympathize with her, she had no right to avoid her problems in this way, it is good that her heroine will understand this. And leaves a few ambiguous feelings towards the hero Aaron Paul. For some reason he thought that he was the most miserable of the four drafters of the pact, although he would complain. And Aaron Paul himself was somehow not so convincing in this film, as if he did not understand everything from the character of his hero.
If there are some shortcomings, the film makes you think when watching because of its subject. The topic of suicide is terrible, as if vetoed and taboo, but let’s better lend a helping hand to the needy, at least in a word to convince him that life was not given to reveal it prematurely, because we have completely different moral rules than the Japanese.
7 out of 10
I’m generally a fan of such stories, where absolutely different people who would never communicate suddenly meet and become everything for each other. I think almost everyone in their life needed something like this. Suddenly it is inadvertent to meet a person and after a while to understand that without him life is not at all the same and that he helped you during a difficult period of your life.
A movie about it. It is about a bunch of desperate people who give themselves to despair together to make them feel better.After watching, you do not want to say many words, you just want to sit in silence and think for a few minutes. However, to understand, I recommend watching this film with a brilliant cast. I have to say that Imogen Poots and Aaron Paul make up an excellent tandem. Having watched two films with their participation, I realize that I am ready to watch another hundred. The film itself is light and in many moments causes a smile, despite the plot itself, that the characters meet on the roof of a high-rise to commit suicide.
p.s. After watching the film, I immediately bought a book. I do not regret a second of time spent watching and reading.
10 out of 10
Nick Hornby is a very popular modern British author, who has received recognition not only in his homeland, but also in Russian-speaking countries, largely thanks to Hollywood adaptations of his life and funny stories, as well as scripts ( "Fanatic", "My Boy" (starring Hugh Grant), "Baseball Fever", "Education of Feelings" and a nominee for "Oscar-2014" "Wild"). He writes fervently, quickly. At the same time, sometimes you have time to read (his novels are read in a couple of days each) to be imbued with the theme and characters, they are alive. My acquaintance with Hornby the writer, in particular, began with Slam, which I candidly quote and recommend to anyone who loves youth stories with the main character of the Holden Caulfield type. The topic of teenage pregnancy is revealed here from a completely different, unexpected angle.
Perhaps the desire to die is, in a sense, also evidence that you are still alive.
Therefore, when I learned about the next film adaptation and the star cast, I had no doubt that the tragicomedy will work, because the subtle, ironic and simply excellent “My Boy” trust earned and awareness of the cinematic prose Hornby came.
In general, the topic is well stated (albeit slightly trivial) - a kind of suicide club is formed with its pact on Christmas Eve. These are people of different age, status, class, cultural level and occupation. What they have in common is the universal desire to die. Everyone has their own mini-tragedies. Play this case as impressive as ever Pierce Brosnan, brilliant Tony Collette, a young and promising cutie Imogen Poots and the star In all serious Aaron Paul. Agree, powerful team. Sam Neil and Rosamund Pike play along with them. In addition, British serial actor Joe Cole ( "Skins") is seen in the frame. But it doesn't matter. What do we expect from this light melodrama? Good soundtracks, witty script and life-affirming motivation – you need to once again make sure that life is worth something. For this portion, I turned to the Long Fall. My expectations were not met, because everything turned out to be pretentious, pathetic, and the characters walking clichés. The soundtrack is still good, but the above, atypical by the way for European (especially for self-critical British) cinema (rather for American) incredibly spoiled the impression of the film.
I haven’t read the book yet, but now that I’ve read it, I don’t want to say that it’s better, because that’s the lot of film adaptations (although with modern works it may well be that the film is better than the book) and it’s not even original anymore. I will only say that the author avoids this vaunted moralizing, pathos, making his characters British not only in their place of residence, but also in their mentality. They are confused, unhappy, fighting for their desire to live people. They hide their true feelings most of the time even in excerpts from their faces (the book is woven as if from the diaries of the top four in intermittent order). And it bribes, although the novel is not outstanding - a good product of mass culture.
The picture, unfortunately, does not give such an impression. There are scenes that you just don’t believe. In general, the film lacks dynamics and funny dialogue, but the potential is there.
“God is not a harmless rabbit now.” He's got everything going on.*
6 out of 10
*citations taken from the original Nick Hornby with the same name
The glorious city of London was in anticipation of the upcoming New Year festivities. Decorated with colorful shining tinsel garlands, permeated with the spirit, atmosphere and mood of the inevitable, the city and all its people were preparing for a mass farewell to the old year and old life, which brought adversity, failure, problems, prejudices and prejudices. But someone among those carefree millions hoping for the best, standing on the edge of the scaffold, was waiting not for a new life in the new year, but for death. Life for J.J., Maureen, Martin and Jess has long lost its true meaning, lost its purpose, and at the last countdown, under the ringing of glasses with sparkling champagne, they decided to stop their suffering. Maybe there is a chance to start from scratch?
For the first time widely presented as part of the out-of-competition program of the International Berlin Film Festival and not received proper attention either from critics or from the audience, the film “The Long Fall” in 2014 joined the piggy bank of the next adaptations of the popular British lyrical fiction writer Nick Hornby, whose pen belongs to the novels “My Boy”, “Education of Feelings” and “Baseball Fever”. Actually, Nick Hornby as an author in many respects resembles another famous, but already American fiction writer of lyrical and romantic prose - Nicholas Sparks, because both writers share a predisposition to sentimental plots, simple truths and a kind of distilled vitality, emasculation, but Hornby as a representative of modern English literature absorbed in his work and classical traditions, being an excellent narrator, able to deftly present even the most inventive platitude.
However, in the case of the film "The Long Fall" there was a certain incident and blunder, dictated by the fact that, taking as a basis not the most vivid novel of the author, differing only by a certain amount of originality at the level of the plot and bribing primarily with its sincerity, benevolence and polyphony of characters, but too suffering from an abundance of unsophisticated evidence and tasteless platitudes, the director of the tape, the famous French director Pascal Chaumel, on account of which there are very interesting romantic comedies “Serdism” in the framework of simple trivitualism, preferring to remove its trivitualism, with a rather unreadable content. Shomel is a good storyteller, but to give the upper class, without falling into rudeness and hysteria, he failed, because the difficult theme of parting with life of his own accord in the picture, in contrast to the more subtle in mood novel, is implemented in “The Long Fall” without a spark, but with a clearly emerging commercial shade. It seems that Pascal Chaumel is trying to play along with Richard Curtis, but this game turns to the final with a complete defeat, because there is no such ease, that humorous component that characterizes Curtis’ films, including even the frankly straightforward “Boyfriend from the Future”, but in “The Long Fall”, this straightforwardness up to declarativeness causes irritation, and only a scatter of charismatic images saves and then partly the reputation of this tape.
A mixture of French charm and specific English humor - this is the film of Pascal Chaumel perceived initially. But, unfortunately, the film, despite its purely European spirit at the scene, is in its purest form a creation, rigged to the standards of the Hollywood murder machine. The film is moments too pressing on emotions, not going into all the heavy realism, deliberately manipulating the viewer to the finale to turn into a kind of attraction of predictable plot moves. However, one thing cannot be taken away from the picture – its transparency and lightness. The film does not raise questions of existentialism, does not take up with inappropriate zeal for social criticism and satire of morals of ordinary people, just offering a set of unoriginal conclusions and motivators, saying that life is still damn beautiful, even if you do not think so. The main thing is to see its beauty in every moment, every little thing that surrounds you, to see and see, and then fall unpredictably upwards, and not expected downwards.
Oh, "Long fall". I read this book less than 10 years ago. For me, 17-year-old, this book was not the first of modern literature, but it made a much greater impression than Invisibles. Chaka Palanika, "Sheep hunting" Haruki Murakami or "Kyoko" Ryu Murakami. I don't know why, but the book got me hooked. I really empathized with the “four from the skyscraper”, carefully reading their history. Nick Hornby made me think about how hopeless the situation was for each of the heroes, that they decided on such a desperate step as suicide. The book may be a bit naive, but I think it only adds to its unique charm.
And what was it like when I found out that the Long Fall was going to be filmed! Finally, I will finally see such relatives and loved over the years heroes. Then the cast became known. Of course, I imagined the heroes of the “gang of losers” completely differently, but when watching I realized that each of the actors occupies exactly its own niche.
Well, so far everything is perfect. Pierce Brosnan (agent 007) — Martin Sharp — TV presenter-loser, who himself gradually destroyed his life and the lives of his loved ones.
Tony Collet (sixth sense) - Morin - you could call her an old maid, but this is certainly not the case.
Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad) is a lover of grunge and his unsuccessful past.
Imogen Poots (she was the opening of this film for me) — Jess Cartwright — at first glance, the spoiled daughter of a famous politician, "but with Jess it is not so simple ..."
Perhaps this is the little that coincides with the original source.
The film is not bad, it is designed in a single style, the actors are great. But... As it seemed to me, the film version did not convey the most important thing - the "spirit" of the book. Yes, of course, the story was amended, and it should be (because the book is not a ready-made script). But in the end it turned melodrama, stuffed with platitudes, with one-sided characters and happy ending.
The combination of a British-German film being made by a Frenchman is a good reason for me to watch it. I take the British humor (which is often tough, but saturated, strong), German with Thiel Schweiger, plus a rather considerable collection of French comedies are distinguished by exquisite, cute, high-quality humor. True, this picture can be called a comedy with a great stretch, because the personal drama of the characters was enough, but such pictures are valuable: to be able to mock our cruel and beautiful life.
A bunch of desperate nuts who decided to despair together, and ... I understand that only a director (writer) can bring such people together at least for a while. The one who is least noticeable in life is the grey mouse Marin. Carrying such a cross as a full disabled son often has to be alone, so the fact that social services treated him like this for me is just a miracle. For various reasons, I liked Jess. No, it's not that I like crazy people. Just, behind such a guise often hide beautiful, interesting personalities who are broken by some lingering injustice. She was shocked by three desires, though, why do I think that she is not the only one who has such three desires? But, nevertheless, Jess herself managed to do both stupidities and something good, to prevent the fall of a new friend, since she is a great liar, she calculated liars not without benefit to the common cause. It can also be noted that as the film unfolded, everyone put their own piece of pain on the picture, consciously expressed, and in the end, everyone tried to give us an answer: what can make us stronger, and what takes away our last strength.
Of course, I liked this sad, slightly black humor, mixed against the background of a good musical background and some desire to help relieve the tension of everyone who, like the heroes of our film, are tired of the eternal routine of life, tired of the fear of being humiliated like Martin for his (clearly his) gross mistake, from the fear of being abandoned like Jes, from the fear of not being able to show feelings like Marin, from the devastation like J.J. The main thing is not to stop wanting: wanting to love, wanting to know, wanting to care. I think it is.
Well, if there's a team that, if Martin wanted to, he wouldn't have reserved, but he'll do it first. The cure for unhappiness is happiness, and I don’t care what others say – let it be understandable and pleasant for those who have seen this film.
There are film adaptations that before reading the book can pass for a good movie, but not after. Nick Hornby's long fall falls into that category.
I read this book 4 years ago, and recently I came across this film, which I decided to watch - the work seemed quite interesting to me. I didn’t expect The Long Fall to look like a banal melodrama to a wide audience. The creators paid more attention to the selection of the star cast than the atmosphere of the film. Needless to say, the book had a lot more dialogue, interesting reasoning, over which you can think and sadden (but this is perhaps the problem of any film adaptation).
The actors, however, are perfectly selected by the images. The only thing Imogen Poots didn't quite finish his role.
In general, the film is not bad and is quite suitable for taking a free evening.
6 out of 10
There are people who see no other way out of the existing problems, but to permanently end their stay on this mortal Earth. Sadly, it's a fact. That is how the heroes of the film wanted to cut the personal Gordian knots instantly: Martin (Pierce Brosnan) is a famous morning news anchor, Mauren is an extremely shy mother of a disabled son, JJ is a former rock musician and Jess is the daughter of a rich official. All of a sudden, we all met at the same time on the roof. After this event, their life vector changed for the better.
Each of the characters had their own reasons to come to the meeting place. It doesn’t matter if it was a broken reputation or an unhappy love. Together, desperate people gradually overcome difficulties and find new goals, doing it not without humor, but also without quarrels. That's life!
The movie is not as dramatic as it might seem. Rather, it's even closer to purebred (but black) comedy. Sometimes the problems are far-fetched and you can laugh at them, sometimes the difficulties are more serious, however, in this situation there is no place for hopeless sadness - you always need to keep a punch and keep a smile on your face.
The long fall is a remarkable motivating picture that can suggest a way out of many “unsolvable” existential equations. In a word, a motivating movie.
I'll tell you right away, I read a book. I like her, what's up? She made her favorite list. When I started watching the movie, I was afraid of disappointment. After all, it is easy to watch a movie when you do not know about the original source and the fact that you do not like it. But when you read the book, everything is wrong. I was very afraid of that.
The film came out nice, a little touching, funny in places. I didn’t like the fact that Matty was messed up incomprehensibly (and it’s unclear for what?), Martin was not fully disclosed, well, Jess said a couple of times that he was a pervert, but the viewer wouldn’t understand what exactly happened there. J.J. got the wrong crack at all, a guy in his 30s, and he doesn't know why he went up on the roof? I don't. I mentioned that he had a band and thank you for that. Maureen's fine, all right, Tony Colette's perfect. Jess and J.J. did a great job, though not in the book. I was waiting for that when I read it.
But in general, everything is not so bad, the narrative was on behalf of each hero, for this too thank you, and a huge plus is the actors. They're perfect. Perfect. They came off the books. Imogen is all rebellious Jess, Tony is so quiet and scared Maureen, but how she changes in the end! That sincere smile and joy. Aaron Paul, in a leather jacket and a tattoo, of course, like a rock star. Pierce Brosnan is definitely Martin. Actors were chosen directly to 5+.
I also liked the soundtracks, played in dramatic moments, where necessary. Of course the book is better, but how else? Can you imagine what the author wanted to say in an hour and a half? But as a reader, I am very glad that the film adaptation did not fail at all, at least in my eyes.
My advice to those who have not read the book is to watch the film first, so as not to sit with the critic’s face and lament that this was not the case here, but now it will be this phrase, not this one. Watch the movie calmly, and then enjoy the book of the wonderful Hornby.
P.S. Aaron Paul and Imogen Poots look so good on screen. I want more movies with these two.
As you know, comparing a book and a movie is a thankless business. Perhaps if I had approached the viewing of The Long Fall as an outsider, “disinterested” viewer who did not get acquainted with the original source in advance, my perception of the tape would have been different – less critical, and my assessment less picky. I watched the movie about six months after reading the book. And after watching with regret was forced to admit the correctness of most reviewers and critics: the film by Pascal Chaumel, alas, loses its literary source in almost all articles.
Let’s start with a good one: casting. Here is the selection of actors absolutely in point. Each of the four performers of the main roles perfectly corresponds to his image. Pierce Brosnan – like Martin Sharp, Imogen Poots brilliantly copes with the role of the daughter of a politician going through a teenage crisis, Tony Collette seems to “live” the role of Maureen, and “that guy from Breaking Bad” completes a wonderful ensemble. This is how Nick Hornby described them in his book, and, reading the novel, it is easy to imagine the characters with these faces.
But the trouble is that to give a well-coordinated concert from this ensemble does not work. The script is to blame. "The Long Fall" is generally difficult to translate into cinematic "language." With a great deal of effort, it would be possible to make a tragicomedy or a "talk" drama out of it. However, the effort was clearly not enough - and it turned out something in between: neither fish nor meat. It seems that if the creators more adhered to the letter and spirit of the original source, it would be much better.
The narrative in the picture, as in the book, is conducted on behalf of each of the heroes in turn. And this is good – this “diverse voice” allows you to better understand the characters, feel their characters. However, it is much easier to do this on the pages of the book than on the screen. In the novel of two hundred pages to understand the characters you have time much deeper than in an hour and a half of screen time. I mean, in the movie, we were told a little bit about everyone, and at the same time not really about anyone. In addition, when transferring the novel to the screen, some secondary, but important characters unexpectedly “lost”, which allowed to reveal the character of the main characters more deeply: Martin’s ex-wife and daughters, a new friend Jess appearing at the end of the novel, orderlies helping Maureen. The image of Penny (Martin's partner on the morning show) is minimized - Rosamund Pike, who plays her, appears in the frame in a single two-minute episode and pronounces heels of words from the power. With this approach, it could be cut out or put a statistic instead of Pike – the result would not have changed. But in the novel, Penny's relationship with Martin is shown much deeper and more interesting. The fact that Jess once disappeared sister even said one sentence. Maybe the producers were afraid to overload the film with secondary characters, maybe they saved on fees. As a result, because of all this, the film perceives as a bit crumpled. As if the creators somehow cut out all the most interesting, reducing both characters and dialogue, and even leveling the corporate English humor to a few fleeting jokes. I remember that the novel began very cheerfully, was filled with subtle humor, irony, each character was “convex”, characteristic. The plot itself, however, by the end of the book began to exhale a little and eventually rolled to the quite expected calm (and absolutely not cinemagenic) ending. The creators of the film, of course, such a final was not satisfied, so they were not lazy to finish writing a few episodes from themselves, eventually bringing it almost to action. It makes no sense to scold them for this, just a pity that the book was about something else.
Like all film adaptations, The Long Fall is doomed to comparison with its literary original. And if earlier Hornby was lucky on the film adaptation, then with “The Long Fall” a misfire came out. In principle, if you watch Long Way Down abstracting from the original source and try to perceive it as an independent film, then the output is quite ordinary tragicomedy - somewhere cute, somewhere stupid, but in general quite typical and not outstanding. The free treatment of the original source to the creators of the tape could be forgiven if they offered a worthy alternative in response, but neither the script, nor the dialogue, nor the dramatic component here cause either delight or empathy. Alas, but nothing but a sweet aftertaste and a sense of falsity seen after watching “The Long Fall” and does not remain. And you empathize here only with actors who, as they can, are trying to pull out on their game, charm and charisma a rather hopeless script canvas.
6 out of 10
Each of us falls down sometime. Not everyone gets up. Nerves in people give up, consciousness is foggy from problems that have fallen on their heads. That's how depression comes. She comes to everyone, sooner or later. It's like a test of strength. Tough and merciless. Such topics, by the way, are a very good front for work in cinema. And complicated, again.
I can't say this picture, I was looking forward to it. But there was interest, definitely. As often happens, an excellent idea was not very good implementation. Why? It seems that the script is suitable (although with blots), the cast is satisfactory and is a core. Four who are completely different in character and past grievous suicides, a confused pact and grains of insanity. Yeah. Of this, for sure, could come a powerful assortment. In my humble opinion, this film was unlucky with the director. Pascal Chaumel managed halfway. He did not let the tape fall into the pit with “waste”, but did not pull it up. Because of that, many fragments turned out to be blurred, faded and blurred. And if the story begins interestingly, then, as events proceed, sags. Weaknesses of motivation, not enough philosophical zest, which we all love so much, lost intrigue. By the way, the ending should have been completely different. Don't think I'm making a dark tone. Well, why not? I won't scold actors. They didn't deserve it, by and large. But they did not cause a storm of fiery and enthusiastic emotions. Old Pierce, though, was good, but he could have done better. Aaron Paul gave the average. Sometimes you believe, sometimes you don't. And, stingy, emotional. Tony Collette did a good job. Maybe the best. Imogen Poots is a strange girl. To understand it to the end, I do not succeed. It seems that she squeezes something out of herself, but comes out so scanty and sluggish that she believes with great difficulty. She's a bad actress. And if it weren't for the adorable eyes and upside-down nose, I probably wouldn't have written about it. Pity Sam Neal. No luck with projects. To be honest, he tried to play, but the role is a pass. Alas. The reader probably thought I didn’t like the movie. Not at all. There are pros. There's enough. These include good musical accompaniment, and an interesting idea, and repeated glimpses of directing work (namely glimpses). In sum, it greatly affects the overall impression.
Combining drama with comedy is difficult. It requires creativity, liveliness and imagination of the director. And perhaps life experience plays a role. Apparently, the listed Shomel lacks. It is strange that he was entrusted with such a story. “The Long Fall” is a kind of, in many ways pleasant, sometimes funny and forcing to watch it to the end picture. Overall, I liked it. She should be seen. But it is a pity that the post of director was not taken by another person. I’m sure the project could have been more interesting. What an idea, anyway. Nope. Such a film must be deep, as extraordinary as possible, with well-written characters and a provocative unexpected ending. At least I wanted to see him like that.
I think everyone has had moments where they just want to give up. Give up and give in to your problems and adversity. I think there are also many people who have thought about a radical solution to this problem. The topic of suicide is quite slippery and in the wrong hands even offensive. Especially in comedy with a lot of jokes. But the creators of the picture went further and developed the idea even further. Thus, through the desire of the main characters to settle scores with life, we see rather a story about life, about how difficult it is to live, about the fact that life is given once and you need to appreciate all that we have and see only the best in it. Life is like a walkway. If now there is a black stripe, then you can be sure that the white stripe of life will not take long to wait. After all, this is the interest of life, in the surprises that await us at every turn and which allow us to rethink everything that was before.
All this is reflected in the story of one evening, under which the four main characters met on the roof of a local high-rise. Four completely different people, with different lives, from different social strata and with their personal reasons to settle scores with life, but only having met and looked at their desire from the outside and at the problems of others, the characters of the picture finally understand that not everything is lost and in a certain sense even begin to understand the whole taste of life.
Perhaps the director of the film Frenchman Pascal Chomel made his debut in English-language cinema and not perfect, but still he managed to shoot a really kind, bright and deep film, which is a unique mixture of French directing and English depth within the framework of history and humor. What is perfectly reflected in an hour and a half of a really easy and pleasant movie, which does not play on nerves and does not try to veil attention, but still makes you willingly watch what is happening on the screen. Since despite all the farce, the film is sustained in very vital tones. Just like humor.
Actually, the film and captivates a very subtle English humor, which even despite its black, does not deprive the film of a certain life position. Moreover, making no laugh at all and laugh, but only knowingly smile and nod watching the simultaneous drama and comicality of what is happening on the screen.
An even stronger impression is achieved thanks to the luxurious acting. Pierce Brosnan is still magnificent and definitely it is he who pulls almost most of the entire tape. Aaron Paul stands out no less worthy game, which allows you to once again see in him a very strong dramatic actor. I was surprised by Imogen Poots, which I usually do not digest. Immediately, the image suited her perfectly and she played very well. As well as Tony Collette, who just lived her character on the screen.
8 out of 10
The Long Fall is not a film about death and suicide, but rather a very light, light and deep comedy with elements of drama, which presents a considerable amount of reflection on life, about the meaning of life and what makes us struggle every day and overcome even the strongest darkness of fate.
Pretentious and stupid drama from a French director who is used to shooting comedies. Once again, someone wanted to play on the tragic field, and for this, a rather dull fantasy was born about four suicides who made a kind of pact - not to die for another 4 weeks. Apparently, the idea of the novel, on which the film was made, came to Nick Hornby when he read in the newspaper that the most suicides occur on New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day. According to the plot of the film, suicidal persons meet on the roof of a skyscraper, from where they are going to bolt directly into Eternity. Everyone has different reasons to go to the next world, but, as Hornby shows, in fact, none of them have a single good reason to end their lives.
The whole tragic part of the film is built around this meeting on the roof. But it's so fake on its own that it looks grotesque. All subsequent events are perceived as farce. Only the farce is not funny, but stupid. Here is one of the heroines is poisoned with pills, and the rest go to the hospital for her. Here is a young man suffering for an incomprehensible reason, and arranges a swim to nowhere. Here they come to television and claim that an angel appeared to them on the roof in the form of Matt Damon.
In fact, the script and the novel were obviously so helpless that there was nothing to squeeze out of the film. It makes no sense. How meaningless, in essence, is life itself, if it is not lived, having invented a single meaning suitable only for you. It is a pity that Nick Hornby, who wrote such a wonderful script - "Education of the senses" - was so helpless as a novelist.
The only plus of the picture is the brilliant play of Pierce Brosnan, he is in great shape. It's a pity he hasn't had much film work lately. I think he could have done it more often. As for Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad), he plays the same role - a guy with oddities, gradually turning into a very ugly little skinny man with a tall forehead. Tony Colette looks really bad. However, she has the role of the tortured mother of a sick boy. He tries his best to portray the exalted person of Emogen Poots. In general, you can not find fault with acting. The actors did everything they could, squeezing everything from this meager material - to a drop.
Looking at such films, you always want to point your finger at the person who invented it and shout: “And the king is naked!” Behind the outer facade, instead of the content, there is emptiness. In general, the movie is dull, not funny (do not believe those who wrote in the annotation that it is a comedy, it is not there), but as a drama - it is a very, very weak attempt.
3 out of 10
I think everyone has had a hard time in life when it seemed like things were getting worse and there was no light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, I don’t want to do anything. Tired of trying, tired of commas, tired of everything. I want to draw a line, put a point, forget and the abyss. And then the time when people look to the future with hope, make wishes, start a “new life” is better than ever for your end. How symbolic.
Did the four of them want to jump at the time? To be honest, I doubt it.
Four heroes, four stories. Everyone is different and it’s hard to tell which one is worse. And worse. Do you know what drives you to do this or not? Strong grounds for suicide or simple mental anguish?
I haven’t read the book, so I’m just looking at the film. It has no deep philosophy and the plot is not about finding the meaning of life. Just 4 people met on the roof and, as a result of the collision of worlds, their fates intertwined. There's no accident. We're where we need to be.
If you have repeatedly thought about the meaning of life, were in a depressed state, despaired or you had no one to talk to, then the film is for you. Sit down more comfortably, you can even pour yourself a coffee, quite cozy and quite dynamic (for its genre) film that I would watch alone.
P.S. I sat down to read a book.
A well-known TV presenter joked with a girl who was younger than the stated age, and much younger than the age allowed by law. On the reputation of a talking head from TV appeared a greasy, oily spot and a label - a pedophile. In the load of several years of free inspection in the prison of Her Majesty attached greasy grins of friends, ridicule and breaking contracts with TV channels. What's the way out? That’s right, the roof is higher and fly me to the moon. It turns out that under capitalism, there are also queues - suicides with a shoal rod on the roof chosen by the TV star. Decency requires you to introduce yourself and discuss the situation.
The brilliant idea to gather several suicides in one place, unfortunately, did not find such a brilliant continuation. After an inspiring beginning that unites four suicide-losers, the authors tell the story of each of them, and it turns out that they have no true reasons for suicide. They all love life too much to leave it on their own, it would be more logical to turn to the dearest doctor Gevorgyan. The boring narrative is diluted with two jokes (about Vaseline and dildo, and about politics), and this gives the authors reason to consider their creation a comedy.
Instead of a comedy, it turned out to be a boring drama about four uninteresting, lonely people who do not cause sympathy. With the exception of Maureen and her son, the problems of the others are simply contrived, as demonstrated by the happy ending.
In the absence of other advantages, one should mention the acting game. Brosnan - old-fashioned grumbles, and actively zombies the viewer with the term - Humiliation, the role of grumpy pensioners, this is all that is now offered to the demobilized agent 007. Aaron Paul does without the usual tantrums, and cries of "succhander", he has the most boring role, he is a lost loser and bird lover, it is strange that Statham or Stallone were not invited to this role. The only one who pleases is a girl named Imogen, who has a funny name Poots. She had a good role in the film ‘Filth’, and here she drags the whole picture on her skinny shoulders. Of all the bulges released by the Creator to the female body, Poots only got the nose, which did not prevent her from resourcefully demonstrating the ass (or its absence, as you like). Puts throughout the film resourcefully mocks all of its participants, and this is the only pearl in a miserable bunch of guano strained out by director Shomel.
4 out of 10
For a very long time we did not admit to ourselves or to others what we really wanted, because we knew that we would not have it. And it would sound either indecent, or ugly, or childish, or banal. Or maybe we're just trying our best to pretend that everything's okay, and we can't admit it, because then it's like a scene from a bad movie. Nick Hornby
Johnny Depp, the hero of mass culture, embodied on the screen the image of the extravagant pirate Jack Sparrow and many other no less vivid characters, has in his biography some not very well-known facts. For example, he bought the rights to the novel by British writer Nick Hornby, even before the book was published, and had serious intentions of bringing the critically acclaimed story of four suicides to the screen. However, then the actor abandoned his plans and his name in the credits of “The Long Fall” does not appear.
Jack Thorne, who is the staff author of “Shameless” and “The Milksuckers”, adapted the book in his characteristic key of some rudeness and at the same time lyricism. But the correct proportions and smooth transitions between drama and comedy are not observed, as a result, “The Long Fall” turns from a tragic but funny story into a stylistically heterogeneous narrative with a ragged plot canvas. Martin, Maureen, Jess and J.J. meet on one of London’s skyscrapers on New Year’s Eve to take their own lives. On the rendezvous with like-minded people, each of them certainly did not count on, but that night the roof of Toppers House, thanks to the imagination of Nick Hornby, was in unprecedented demand.
Obviously, the story with such a synopsis has two optimal options for updating in 16:9 format. The first is to create pure burlesque in the style of Le Splendid, behind which, however, lies the undeniable tragedy of each of the characters. The second option is the embodiment of “The Long Fall” in the quality of pure drama, in which, if there is a place for humor, it is exclusively melancholic.
However, the Frenchman Pascal Chomel does not dare to take bold stylistic steps, and makes a strange comedy out of Nick Hornby’s novella, in which tragic moments are excluded to the maximum, and the characters seem to decide to become suicidal simply on their own whim and for fun, and not because of a difficult fate that includes family problems, fatal illness, public shame and unbearable life circumstances.
Bright actors in the person of Pierce Brosnan, Aaron Paul, Tony Collette and Imogen Poots are locked in the framework of a primitive script and, no matter how hard they try, they cannot reveal their characters properly. The most advantageous in the film is Aaron Paul, perhaps because he is a very good actor, and the story of his character JJ seems the most hopeless of all.
“The Long Fall” has all the attributes that can make it an excellent theatrical production: a lot of monologues; a serious topic, revealed through many details and nuances, and, finally, a style of storytelling – sparkling surprises and sharp changes in tone. But, the story did not become a play, and turned into a very mediocre comedy, with wonderful actors and a soundtrack, selected with taste (especially successfully fits into the picture the song “I will survive” from Cake).
In general, if you consider “The Long Fall” as an ordinary comedy for one evening, then the film deserves a good rating, so its task of entertainment (albeit not very pretentious) performs. But if we talk about the picture of Pascal Chomel as a film adaptation of the novel, then here it is completely a failure, since it does not at all realize the potential of the literary primary source, in which “The Long Fall” is not just a gloomy comedy, but a complex story in which there is quite tangible suffering behind visible laughter. It's easy to die and hard to live, but that's the point.
The glorious city of London was in anticipation of the upcoming New Year festivities. Decorated with colorful shining tinsel garlands, permeated with the spirit, atmosphere and mood of the inevitable, the city and all its people were preparing for a mass farewell to the old year and old life, which brought adversity, failure, problems, prejudices and prejudices. But someone among those carefree millions hoping for the best, standing on the edge of the scaffold, was waiting not for a new life in the new year, but for death. Life for J.J., Maureen, Martin and Jess has long lost its true meaning, lost its purpose, and at the last countdown, under the ringing of glasses with sparkling champagne, they decided to stop their suffering. Maybe there is a chance to start from scratch?
For the first time widely presented as part of the out-of-competition program of the International Berlin Film Festival and not received proper attention either from critics or from the audience, the film “The Long Fall” in 2014 joined the piggy bank of the next adaptations of the popular British lyrical fiction writer Nick Hornby, whose pen belongs to the novels “My Boy”, “Education of Feelings” and “Basball Fever”. Actually, Nick Hornby as an author in many respects resembles another famous, but already American fiction writer of lyrical and romantic prose - Nicholas Sparks, for both writers share a predisposition to sentimental plots, simple truths and a kind of distilled vitality, emasculation, but Hornby as a representative of modern English literature absorbed in his work and classical traditions, being a great storyteller, able to deftly present even the most inventive platitude.
However, in the case of the film "The Long Fall" there was a certain incident and blunder, dictated by the fact that, taking as a basis not the most vivid novel of the author, differing only by a certain amount of originality at the level of the plot and bribing primarily with its sincerity, benevolence and polyphony of characters, but too suffering from an abundance of unsophisticated obviousities and tasteless platitudes, the director of the tape, the famous French director Pascal Chaumel, on account of which there are very interesting romantic comedy, overly balanced trivitualism, preferring to remove its simple content of the Greek trivitualism, rather unreading. Shomel is a good storyteller, but to give the upper class, without falling into rudeness and hysteria, he failed, because the difficult theme of parting with life of his own accord in the picture, in contrast to the more subtle in mood novel, is realized in The Long Fall without a spark, but with a clearly emerging commercial shade. It seems that Pascal Chaumel is trying to play along with Richard Curtis, but this game turns to the final with a complete defeat, because there is no such ease, that humorous component that characterizes Curtis’ films, including even the frankly straightforward “Boyfriend from the Future”, but in “The Long Fall”, this straightforwardness up to declarativeness causes irritation, and only a scatter of charismatic images saves and then partly the reputation of this tape.
A mixture of French charm and specific English humor - this is the film of Pascal Chaumel perceived initially. But, unfortunately, the film, despite its purely European spirit at the scene, is in its purest form a creation, rigged to the standards of the Hollywood murder machine. The film is moments too pressing on emotions, not going into all the heavy realism, deliberately manipulating the viewer to the finale to turn into a kind of attraction of predictable plot moves. However, it is impossible to take away from the picture one thing - its transparency and lightness. The film does not raise questions of existentialism, does not take up with inappropriate zeal for social criticism and satire of morals of ordinary people, just offering a set of unoriginal conclusions and motivators, saying that life is still damn beautiful, even if you do not think so. The main thing is to see its beauty in every moment, every little thing that surrounds you, to see and see, and then fall unpredictably up, and not expected down.
7 out of 10
On New Year’s Eve, four very different people meet on the roof of a London skyscraper in an attempt to commit suicide: TV presenter Martin (Brosnan), who contacted a minor, having lost his job, wife and career, a single and elderly woman Maureen (Collette), a restless pizza deliveryman JJ (Paul) with terminal brain cancer and the daughter of an influential politician Jess (Poots), abandoned by his boyfriend. All four make a pact that they won't try to kill themselves until at least All Lovers Day.
Evaluation of discord. There are movies that, for example, have an amazing picture but an excessively false ending. Or movies with great scripts but terrible actors. In such situations, the assessment is a kind of “average arithmetic” from the components of the picture. And there is a completely different situation when it is difficult to single out successful or, on the contrary, unsuccessful sides in the film, when the whole tape is such a cute trifle that does not cause absolutely any negative or, on the contrary, enthusiastic emotions. “The Long Fall” is one of them.
Sometimes funny, sometimes romantic tragicomedy, in which there are no deep arguments about the meaning of life, as there are no fake “pink snot”. A simple, slightly contrived story, with funny plot twists and extremely non-specific characters that can be described in two or three words. "The Long Fall" is not pop or classic, not rock or jazz, not hit or suck, not a philosophical parable, but not a blanket. You won’t lose anything by skipping this movie, but you won’t miss it either. After all, Brosnan is colorful, Tony Collette is soulful, and Paul and Poots are cute.
“The Long Fall” is a great choice when you don’t want to be loaded, but you consider yourself above popcorn comic book adaptations and low-humor comedies.
The Long Fall is a film adaptation of the book by contemporary British writer Nick Hornby. Alas, any film adaptation is such that it is almost impossible to make a good film “by adapting the book to the script, with an incomprehensible cut-off” without spoiling the book. Despite this, it is fashionable to shoot films based on books, often the rights to film adaptation are redeemed even before the book is released, but there are very few successful examples of such.
That’s why I think we need to stop looking for discrepancies and constantly compare the plot of the film with the original, and just watch the movie. Sometimes this helps, including turning a blind eye to the aforementioned “snap”. After all, it is clear that timekeeping is limited, and for various reasons it is impossible to show everything as it is in the book. A little bit of a retreat, come on.
Nick Hornby is one of my favorite writers. He writes about ordinary people, their problems, hobbies, love. Stories with humor, irony, but about very serious things. The Long Fall is just such a book that the French director Pascal Chaumel took up the film. The script was adapted by Hornby compatriot Jack Thorne. The main roles were performed by good actors, there are no claims to this.
Nothing can be done, but I went to the movies, already knowing about the negative criticism of the film. Therefore, the masterpiece did not have to wait. However, the film was not very bad. The creators even tried to follow the structure of the book, separating the narrative from the faces of the characters, which was possible to do in the movie. But the main thing that distinguishes the film is that it is presented to the audience as an easy, unstressed story, almost a comedy, albeit with an unusual strange plot. But the subject of suicide, as you know, is not very fun by definition, and so the superficiality of the film's narrative does not strike the right balance. There is no drama with a taste of bitter irony, although the book should be shown this way.
It seems to me that the director made the movie more massive than it was necessary. The format of an independent film was more appropriate here, and the film was supposed to be an Englishman, not a Frenchman. So it’s hard to say whether people who haven’t read the book will like the movie as well as those who have. I can only recommend the book, it makes more sense.
The actors are pretty good. Played well, too. It is necessary to note Imogen Poots, who tried to convey the complex and ironic character of Jess, in some moments just burned. Aaron Paul was also interesting in the role of JJ, and although he apparently did not want to grow his hair, he played the secretive character of the rocker loser. Pierce Brosnan and Tony Collette are also great.
As a result, the picture in the film is quite decent, and the film itself can be seen, but it will certainly not make a serious impression. I think it would be appropriate to quote the words of the writer, who together with the film crew attended the premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Did Nick like the movie? There is nothing more to add.
“You’ve been working on something long and hard for years and all of a sudden you walk into a dark room and the story flies by in 90 minutes.” This is crazy! You go out and you think, "I didn't understand anything." Can anyone understand that? ?