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Capone's Long-But-Fascinating Interview With THE FALL Director Tarsem Concludes!!

Great interview Capone! by LordPorkington	May 29th, 2008 08:36:03 AM
Did you know they're demolishing the famous carpark from Get Carter to build a shopping centre? Bloody disgrace I say.
yup. by Gatsbys West Egg Omlet	May 29th, 2008 08:54:34 AM
i'll be seeing this very soon. thanks, Capone.
I'll care about Tarsem when.... by TVguy4566	May 29th, 2008 08:59:20 AM
he actually makes a movie that isn't basically like a 2 hour music video - visually stunning with no substance whatsoever. I was bored by The Cell (take away his visuals and The Cell is a very by the numbers thriller) and The Fall is getting criticized for the same reason why I didn't particularly care for about The Cell. Tarsem is too visual for his own good. He sacrifices narrative to provide his visuals. The guy needs to improve that part of his game before he will ever make a great movie.
another interview by max404	May 29th, 2008 09:11:32 AM
great interview!!!!! lovely guy with a real vision & knowledge and: a real shame some people's brains simply shut down when they see a beautiful film. like they cannot SEE any substance anymore when blinded by style here's another interesting interview with the man: http://www.avclub.com/content/ interview/tarsem/1
Tarsem should reboot Green Goblin! by pipergates	May 29th, 2008 09:21:49 AM
Like they're rebooting Hulk. Imagine Green Goblin without no idiotic armor hiding his extremely powerful & unique physical aspect. Green Goblin has about the most potent look of all the supervillains! What a crime to muck him up like Raimy did. Don't know if they wanted to make him less scary for the kids or more realistic- realistic, in a superhero-movie has its places, but not at the expense of visual power and established identity. The way Nolan is portraying the Joker is perfect, like realer and more believable but still The Joker. Tarsem utilizing to the full his visual flairs with the power of Green Goblin, oh man, that would be spectacular.
Well, I knew the snobbery would come out by TVguy4566	May 29th, 2008 09:25:46 AM
So if you don't like Tarsem, you aren't smart. Apparently, if you want an actually story and plot with your eye candy, you can't see substance. Sorry, but you take away Tarsem's visuals from the Cell, it is just another B-Movie, Silence of the Lambs rip off thriller that come and go from the box office all the time. You look at visually stunning movies that do become groundbreaking movies that change how people film their genre like the Matrix, they usually combine stunning visual effects with a strong story. Tarsem lacked the latter in The Cell. I haven't seen The Fall so I can't comment, but most of the reviews I have read has indicated that he fell into the same trap.
problem with The Cell, too good in a bad way by pipergates	May 29th, 2008 09:32:23 AM
Just too disturbing, unpleasant, if you're not a fan of that stuff. Or a psycho. But the look was spectacular and the story well told. One of the better roles Lopez did, and that creepy guy was excellent too.
Tarsem should take lessons from Guillermo del Toro by TVguy4566	May 29th, 2008 09:33:30 AM
Now he is a guy who knows how to combine stunning visuals with an actual strong story. Pan's Labyrinth is the type of movie Tarsem should be striving for - a movie that has a wonderful story to go with the eye candy.
tvguy by max404	May 29th, 2008 09:34:02 AM
hey! have I said anything to justify the conclusion of your first sentence? I don't think so. I didn't even mention Tarsem, and certainly not 'the Fall' (which indeed is a flawed but still very fascinating film. read the interview link to hear what Tarsem himself has to say about it)
again by max404	May 29th, 2008 09:43:40 AM
And I haven't seen 'the Fall' myself (but am looking forward to it myself). I was referring more to films like 'bladerunner', 'oldboy' and most films of De Palma. All films with interesting things to say.... yet all got bashed as 'style over substance' by some
max404 by TVguy4566	May 29th, 2008 09:49:12 AM
Sorry if I jumped to conclusions, but when a lot of people who love a director like Tarsem (a guy who has a strong cult following, but is not mainstream) they usually state that people who don't like them are just too dumb to understand him or something to that effect. When you talked about brains shutting down, I just assumed you were doing the same. Sorry.
I don't know if the Cell is in the same league as.. by TVguy4566	May 29th, 2008 09:53:23 AM
Bladerunner (generally recognized as a Sci-Fi classic) and some of DePalma's work (Scareface, Untouchables). DePalma is a weird case because a lot of his movies are crap even if they do have some neat visual effects like the opening scene (that goes about 15 minutes) of Snake Eyes.
Seriously by Series7	May 29th, 2008 09:59:02 AM
Why can't this guy just make a movie in his visual world. Looks like I'll have to wait for the DVD to judge for myself on the fall (luckily though Prom Night is still in a few theaters around where I live!!!). But it sounds like Prince Tarsem can't do real world, why can't he just do a movie in his crazy world. That or someone give this guy the rights to the Alice in Wonderland re-make/redo I keep hearing about.
Also by Series7	May 29th, 2008 10:01:20 AM
I wish IMDB would make a section for music videos or put those in the directors credit section. Because I would be cool to know which videos all these music videos to movies these directors have done.
Or by Series7	May 29th, 2008 10:25:42 AM
Why doesn't Prince Tarsem direct the Salvidor Dali documentary that has to be made before Al Pachino dies. Or an MC Escher movie?
Westworld by Roy Neary	May 29th, 2008 10:52:34 AM
Does anyone know whatever happened to his proposed Westworld remake? He was attached for a while and then nothing. I'm not a big fan of remakes, but with him on board it might have been interesting.
The Cell by Autodidact	May 29th, 2008 01:50:39 PM
The Cell fucking sucked! It seriously pissed me off. Fuck you Tarsem!
He didn't write The Cell.... by Jackie Boy	May 29th, 2008 03:18:55 PM
I remember reading an interview where he stated that basically he knew it was a real shitty script, so he tried to make at least a visually interesting motion picture. People fault it saying it's all style over substance etc., but he had nothing to do with the substance. The style was the only really good thing about the picture and that was all him.
The Cell was a pretty good movie by Rupee88	May 29th, 2008 03:46:11 PM
It was better than 95% of the SHIT that Hollywood puts out. Yes it was flawed, but it had as semi-original vision and J Lo wasn't that bad in it really. Again, I'd rather sit and watch it than most any other movie playing at the theater every week.
That was neither long nor fascinating by thebearovingian	May 29th, 2008 06:22:01 PM
But thanks anyway!
Good luck, Tarsem! by Proman1984	May 29th, 2008 09:40:44 PM
Hope you have a great career.
Jackie Boy by TVguy4566	May 29th, 2008 10:34:49 PM
So when a director films a movie with a a great plot and it is awesome, he isn't responsible? It has to work both ways. Apparently Michael Bay isn't a hack either. His movies are mindless dreck, but that isn't his fault. He didn't write Pearl Harbor or Bad Boys II. Visually those movies were well shot. Bay was stripped of an Oscar. Sorry, but since the beginning of motion pictures, directors have successfully rewritten or reworked shitty scripts to make great movies. That is the job of the director. If the story fails, the director take a lionshare of the responsibility.
EAT Y'SELF FITTER by Guy Who Got A Headache And Accidentally Saves The World	May 30th, 2008 05:13:24 AM
I almost broke my mind beyond repair watching the cell after drinking a bottle of robitussin
Saw The Fall last night.... by westie	May 30th, 2008 07:41:50 AM
I thought it was great, but you have to open your mind to it. if you go in expecting stuff you normally watch, you'd be dissapointed. I'm not an art-house kinda guy, but his imagery fit the scene; a young girl with a good imagination starved for information, and this guy statrs feeding it to her, and by the end the story's almost cannabalizing itself. She also builds ideas and thoughts off what he says that he has no control over. Overall, I liked it.
Tarsem by fivezero	May 30th, 2008 09:28:59 AM
Awesome interview. I really like Tarsem's work. I just listened to his commentary for the Cell and it kinda ruined the movie for me. Totally demystified the movie for me. He's so cavalier and whatever-ish about his genius. Still, The Cell is amazing to me, even with that goofy cast. I can't wait to see The Fall. I'll make sure I bring a buncha friends too. He's a motormouth and I love it. I hope he makes movies that thrill the eyes for a long, long time.
westie has a good point by Stevie Grant	Jun 1st, 2008 12:35:03 AM
I saw it Friday afternoon, and, while I liked it... the best way to describe the film is beautiful. It is a very pretty movie to watch. However, the plot and direction aren't up to par. At several points, I got the distinct impression that the movie was meandering instead of progressing/developing. I still liked it, though, and Lee Pace and the esp. the little girl are very good.
Also saw it last night... by HoichiTheEarless	Jun 1st, 2008 12:10:53 PM
It didn't grab me emotionally the way it should have, but that being said, the film is successful because of it's dedication to style. I don't agree with the substance versus style stance proffered by tvguy... unless you stipulate that a film with "substance" is automatically engaging on an intellectual or emotional level. And I wouldn't make an argument that any film that isn't engaging on those levels is automatically without substance. There's plenty of examples of films that really make a strong effort on to be high substance and are ultimately too stodgy to be engaging, and give me a film like "The Fall" over that any day of the week. Yet, I don't think it's fair to see "The Fall" as having no substance either (especially if you haven't seen it and are giving it the preemptive kibosh based entirely on other people's reviews and the first and only film of the same director... and this is clearly a different caliber film than "The Cell"). The film I thought had some interesting things to say on the nature of storytelling: oral vs. visual, the role storytelling plays, the gap between intent and interpretation that exists between the storyteller and the listener... more than enough substance to justify the film...
Viewers are mistakenly looking for substance by Dingbatty	Jun 2nd, 2008 02:22:46 AM
and character development in the make-believe characters in Roy's improvised story, who are existing in a young girl's imagination. The relationship between Roy and Alexandria, and the story that creates this connection is the matter. Loved this movie and will own it. One of the few films in the past few years with an element of the fantastic that understands that fantasy is more about evoking a mood, and less about populating a world "just so" with specific creatures and tropes.
I caught this the other night by LeckoManiac	Jun 3rd, 2008 12:28:25 AM
And was absolutely stunned. It was fantastic. I have never seen The Cell so I can't comment on how the two compare, but I will say that The Fall took my breath away. Half way through the film the projector broke down so we had a few minutes of down time before they were able to start it back up. A pair of young couples behind me were absolutely ragging on it. At one point, one of the females turned to her boyfriend and said "What kind of previews could you have possibly seen that made you want to see this stupid movie?" I wanted so badly to tell them to shut up. Whatever, I loved it and so did the girl I saw it with. That is all that really maters in the end.

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Capone's Long-But-Fascinating Interview With THE FALL Director Tarsem Concludes!!

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