‘Falling’ Trailer: Viggo Mortensen’s Directorial Debut Highlights Dementia’s Effects on Already Complicated Family (Video)

The film premiered at Sundance in January and will be released in theaters and on digital in February 2021

Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut “Falling” that premiered at Sundance back in January has finally landed U.S. distribution and will be released by Perceval Pictures and Quiver Distribution in February 2021. It will qualify for 2020 awards consideration.

Mortensen also stars in “Falling” based on his own script, and the film will be released in theaters, on digital and on-demand beginning February 5. You can also check out a new trailer for the film above.

“Falling” stars Laura Linney, Lance Henriksen, Terry Chen, Sverrir Gudnason and Hannah Gross and is the story of a man caring for his father suffering from dementia, relocating the conservative, traditional man to be with his family in the more liberal California. Here’s the full synopsis:

“Falling” follows John (Mortensen) who lives with his partner, Eric (Chen), and their daughter, Mónica (Gabby Velis), in California, far from the traditional rural life he left behind years ago. John’s father, Willis (Henriksen), a headstrong man from a bygone era, lives alone on the isolated farm where John grew up. Willis is in the early stages of dementia, making running the farm on his own increasingly difficult, so John brings him to stay at his California home so that he and his sister Sarah (Linney) might help him find a place near them to relocate to. Unfortunately, their best intentions ultimately run up against Willis’s adamant refusal to change his way of life in the slightest.

“Falling” was also selected for Cannes and screened at Toronto and the San Sebastian Film Festival, and Henriksen just won the International Film Festival and Awards Macao (IFFAM) Competition award for Best Actor for his performance in the film.

Mortensen even composed the score and produced “Falling” alongside Scythia Films’ Daniel Bekerman and Zephyr Films’ Chris Curling.  The executive producers are Danielle Virtue, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Touche, Stephen Dailey, Peter Hampden and Norman Merry.

“Viggo Mortensen has fashioned a complex tale of love lost and regained that explores generational tensions,” Quiver co-presidents Berry Meyerowitz and Jeff Sackman said in a statement.  “This is a stunning directorial debut from Viggo with a stand-out performance from Lance Henriksen, and we are excited to see this one through the awards season.”

“While not strictly autobiographical, some events and conversations in ‘Falling’ are inspired by the childhood I shared with my two brothers, Charles and Walter, to whom the movie is dedicated. It is a complex story, layered throughout with the subjective, imperfect memories of its principal characters,” Mortensen said in a statement. “Most people, it seems to me, yearn to be seen and heard, and thrive on empathy. It took me a long time to accept my own father as he was, with as little judgment as possible, but I’m glad that I eventually did so. And he returned the gesture, for which I’ll always be grateful. ‘Falling’ is, in large part, about the importance of accepting and forgiving, of learning to live with others and with oneself. I feel very fortunate to be collaborating with Quiver in order to bring this story of hard-won grace and compassion to U.S. audiences.”

Check out the new trailer for “Falling” here and above.

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