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'The Fall'

Rating: (2 STARS)

BY CHRISTY LEMIRE | The Associated Press

May 9, 2008

"The Fall," a whacked-out fairy tale for grown-ups, is as stunning in its beauty as it is in its lack of logic.

Indian writer-director Tarsem Singh, who just goes by the name Tarsem, knows how to create some sumptuous visuals, as he did with his similarly gorgeous but pretentious 2000 thriller "The Cell" starring Jennifer Lopez and Vincent D'Onofrio. He has quite an imagination, all right, as you would imagine from a commercial and music-video veteran. You just wonder where he's going with it.

Too often the images, shot over several years in countries including Bali, Fiji, South Africa and Italy, seem to exist because they're cool-looking and weird, and for no other reason.

The convoluted story follows the friendship that forms between Roy, an injured stuntman (Lee Pace, TV's "Pushing Daisies"), and Alexandria, a little girl with a broken collar bone (Romanian newcomer Catinca Untaru). Both are stuck in a hospital in 1915 Los Angeles.

The moments Alexandria and Roy share together chatting and teasing each other have an easy, father-daughter sweetness to them. They're more enjoyable, and make "The Fall" more watchable, than Tarsem's many self-satisfied flights of fancy.

THE FALL (R). Beautifully shot but illogical drama from Indian writer-director Tarsem Singh. Lee Pace, Catinca Untaru. 1:56 (some violent images). At AMC Empire 25, Chelsea Cinemas, Landmark Sunshine Cinema, Manhattan.