'Falling' Film Review: Viggo Mortensen's Directorial Debut Is a Dark Family Drama

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

If there’s one word that comes to mind with Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut, “Falling,” it’s control.

“Falling,” which was written and directed by the actor, poet, artist and musician who was last seen at Sundance in what would be an Oscar-nominated turn in “Captain Fantastic,” has made a beautifully controlled drama about age, memory and forgiveness — and at its heart are two men, one trying desperately to be controlled in his own life and one who is anything but controlled.

The film, which had its first press and industry screening at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, is a restrained, quiet drama except when its characters explode. The filmmaking is subtle, but the emotions it explores are not.

Also Read: Why Neon Is the Indie to Watch at Sundance After 'Parasite' and 'Honeyland'

Lance Henriksen, best known for his roles in the “Alien” movies and in “Millennium,” plays Willis, an aging man who has spent his entire life being intolerant and intractable and is battling a dementia that simply adds levels of randomness and hysteria to his already difficult nature. Mortensen plays his son, John, who tries to put decades of bad memories behind him as he brings his father from an isolated New York farm to Los Angeles, where Willis can be close to the families of both of his children, John and Sarah (Laura Linney).

Willis and L.A. are not a good fit: “California is for c—suckers and flag-burners,” he announces pointedly as he settles in uneasily to live with John, John’s husband, Eric (Terry Chen), and their daughter, Monica (Gabby Velis). But John does what he can to ignore the taunts and homophobic insults, to be calm in the face of a man who has been provoking him for his entire life.

The film is intricately constructed, jumping back and forth in time and moving in and out of the fading memories of a man who was often as not a jerk with a cigarette in his mouth and a beer in his hand. Henriksen finds occasional shades of likability in a man who is consumed by anger and uninterested in repairing the damage he caused in his family, but his frightening performance is one fashioned in darkness.

Also Read: 'Cuties' Film Review: Provocative Coming-of-Age Tale Makes for an Explosive Debut

As a director, Mortensen doesn’t make things easy for himself: We figure that a film like this is headed for some kind of redemption, but Willis seems completely irredeemable for much of the film. But Mortensen is too smart to go for an easy reconciliation, instead exploring shades of resignation and acceptance, particularly in the wake of an argument that can stand as a father/son version of the one in “Marriage Story” — primal and fearsome, it goes to places so dark that all the characters can do afterwards it attempt to crawl out of the wreckage.

At one point, John rails at his father that he has never, ever apologized for anything he’s done, but as viewers we know that’s not true: In the opening scene of the movie, Willis (played in flashbacks by Sverrir Gudnason) looks at his baby son and says, “I’m sorry I brought you into the world so you could die.”

The film does not embrace that fatalism, but neither does it pretend that these people can ever really escape it. “Falling” is a finely drawn character drama, as you might expect from much of Mortensen’s acting career, and a film that pays attention to small details that bring these people to life.

Mortensen wrote the film after his mother’s funeral, when he began recalling incidents from his own childhood, then turned them into fictional scenes loosely inspired by his memories. The first card in the end credits reads “For Charles and Walter Mortensen,” but it’s not too difficult to figure out that this one is really for Viggo Mortensen.

16 Buzziest Sundance Movies for Sale in 2020, From Julianne Moore's 'The Glorias' to Michael Keaton's 'Worth' (Photos)

It's another Sundance Film Festival of slopes, snow, stars and sales. That's right, the market at the Sundance Film Festival is gearing up yet again with some buzzy titles among those just premiering at the festival and those in competition. And after last year produced some mega deals for movies like "Late Night," "The Farewell" and "Brittany Runs a Marathon" to name just a few, these are the features and documentaries TheWrap will be keeping an eye on while in Park City.
All Photos Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"The 40-Year-Old Version"

No, it's not the Steve Carell movie. Radha Blank wrote, directed and stars in this highly personal film about what it really looks like to be a struggling actress at age 40 when she leaves the world of community theater and records a rap demo track. The film marks Blank's directorial debut and is shot in New York entirely in black and white. "Queen & Slim" scribe Lena Waithe is a producer on the film, and "The 40-Year-Old Version" is playing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Eric Branco
"Bad Hair"

Justin Simien's follow-up to his thought-provoking conversation piece "Dear White People" is set in LA in 1989 about a group of enterprising women trying to climb the ladder and be the next star of a music video TV show, all while battling in a war of words and dreadlocks. Elle Lorraine, Vanessa Williams, Jay Pharoah, Lena Waithe, Blair Underwood and Laverne Cox all star in this satirical, psychological thriller that's debuting in the midnight section of the festival.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Black Bear"

"Black Bear" stars Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon in a drama about a couple who welcomes an aspiring filmmaker into their remote lake house, only to be wrapped up in a game of desire, manipulation and jealousy in the filmmaker's pursuit of art. The film is directed and written by Lawrence Michael Levine and will premiere in the NEXT section of the festival.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Rob Leitzell
"Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen"

In "Disclosure," filmmaker Sam Feder sits down with Hollywood's leaders and thinkers in the trans community like Laverne Cox, Lilly Wachowski, Yance Ford, Mj Rodriguez, Jamie Clayton and Chaz Bono. The documentary grapples with the history of trans characters in TV and movies, going way back to "Dog Days Afternoon" and "Boys Don't Cry" up through FX's "Pose."
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Four Good Days"

Glenn Close reunites with her director on "Albert Nobbs," Rodrigo Garcia, for this drama in which Close plays a mother who gets a surprise visit from her estranged, drug addict daughter (Mila Kunis). Close's character is resistant to give her daughter another chance after years of failed rehab and lying, but something about this time feels different.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Igor Jadue Lillo
"The Glorias"

Julianne Moore stars in Julie Taymor's biopic "The Glorias" about the journalist and feminist icon Gloria Steinem. But she's just one of five women playing Steinem at different stages of her journey in Taymor's unconventional approach to adapting Steinem's memoir "Life on the Road." Alicia Vikander, Janelle Monáe, Timothy Hutton, Lulu Wilson, Lorraine Toussaint and Bette Midler all star in the film.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"The Go-Go's"

This documentary's got the beat as it goes behind the scenes of one of the defining pop punk girl groups of the 1980s, The Go-Gos. The film from director Alison Ellwood reunites founding band members Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin during their early days in the Los Angeles punk rock scene up through their hit-making, MTV success and turn to fame, drugs and alcohol.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Paul Natkin
"Ironbark"

Benedict Cumberbatch stars in this drama set during the Cold War-era and Cuban Missile Crisis about a mild-mannered businessman called upon by the British government to help uncover a Soviet mole. Jessie Buckley, Rachel Brosnahan and Angus Wright co-star. This is just the second feature film from Dominic Cooke after his 2017 film "On Chesil Beach."
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"The Nest"

In what is incredibly only Sean Durkin's second feature film since he won the directing prize from Sundance for "Martha Marcy May Marlene" in 2011, "The Nest" stars Jude Law and Carrie Coon as two ex-pats who leave suburban America for London in the 1980s. The two-handed character drama shows how their relationship slowly simmers and boils over as they try to manage their new, lavish lifestyle in England.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"The Night House"

Playing in the midnight section of the festival, this horror film from director David Bruckner stars Rebecca Hall as a woman living alone in a lakeside home following the recent death of her husband. The film is an updated take on a traditional ghost story as Hall experiences dreams that drive her to find answers about her husband's past. Sarah Goldberg and Stacy Martin co-star.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Elisha Christian
"On the Record"

The latest documentary from the directors of "The Hunting Ground" and "The Invisible War" is back on the market after Oprah Winfrey removed herself as an executive producer from the project and pulled the film from debuting on Apple TV+. Winfrey specifically felt the need to step aside from the movie because directors Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering wanted to show the film at Sundance before Winfrey felt it was complete. "On the Record" follows music executive Drew Dixon in the early days of #MeToo as she grapples with the decision to come forward about her her accusations of rape against Def-Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Martyna Starosta
"Save Yourselves!"

"Save Yourselves" is a zany sci-fi comedy about a Brooklyn couple that retreats to a remote cabin in the woods in order to unplug, only to miss the news of an alien invasion that's destroyed much of civilization. The film from directors Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer satirizes millennial culture and modern love. John Reynolds and Sunita Mani star in the comedy that's premiering in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Matt Clegg
"Shirley"

"Shirley" stars Elisabeth Moss as the famous gothic horror author of stories such as "The Lottery" and "The Haunting of Hill House," Shirley Jackson. It's an unconventional biopic about how Jackson discovers the inspiration for her next novel through the eccentric behavior of a young couple she and her husband take into their home. Michael Stuhlbarg, Logan Lerman and Odessa Young co-star in the film from "Madeline's Madeline" director Josephine Decker. The film is playing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Thatcher Keats
"Sylvie's Love"

Romantic, elegant and with a jazzy soundtrack, "Sylvie's Love" is a lush love story set in 1957 New York and spread out over years. Tessa Thompson is said to give a powerful performance in the film from writer and director Eugene Ashe, who melds music into his romance for a rich period piece. "Sylvie's Love" is playing in competition in the U.S. Dramatic section.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Wander Darkly"

Part mystery, part family drama and featuring what's described by Sundance as "demanding tonal shifts," "Wander Darkly" stars Sienna Miller trying to reckon with the future of her relationship with her husband (Diego Luna) and her infant child. At the same time, she's forced to solve the mystery of a recent traumatic accident. Tara Miele directs the film that's playing in competition in the U.S. Dramatic section.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Carolina Costa
"Worth"

"Worth" gives a new perspective of New York post-9/11 by following Michael Keaton as an attorney appointed to lead the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. But Keaton's character has a change of heart when he comes face to face with a community leader played by Stanley Tucci who lost his wife in the World Trade Center. "Worth" is director Sara Colangelo's third film, all of which have premiered at Sundance, including her previous film "The Kindergarten Teacher," which won top directing honors at the festival in 2018.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute

1 of 17

Documentaries like “On the Record,” “Disclosure” and “The Go-Go’s” are also making noise

It's another Sundance Film Festival of slopes, snow, stars and sales. That's right, the market at the Sundance Film Festival is gearing up yet again with some buzzy titles among those just premiering at the festival and those in competition. And after last year produced some mega deals for movies like "Late Night," "The Farewell" and "Brittany Runs a Marathon" to name just a few, these are the features and documentaries TheWrap will be keeping an eye on while in Park City.

View In Gallery