Feasting on the limitless possibilities of storytelling and imagination, director Tarsem Singh Dhabdwar might be accused of visual gluttony for his efforts in The Fall. Richly composed of frame after wondrous frame of seemingly impossible imagery, his production is an exercise of narrative simplicity and visual splendor. The story you’ve heard before, but you’ve never seen it quite like this—never with the inconceivable and mostly tangible beauty painted with Tarsem’s detailed brushstrokes. From Eiko Ishioka’s baroque costumes to the stunning location shooting in upwards of twenty countries the world over, the film shows us sights the eye cannot believe are real, except they are: A centuries-old irrigation tank with labyrinthine staircases, a city painted blue, an elephant swimming in glimmering water, a face that emerges from the earth—they’re all shot from the expert eye of a devoted artist inspired by the limits of his medium, and how camera placement can underscore the world’s uncanniness and grandeur. Mostly eschewing the digital effects that most filmmakers rely on today, The Fall presents a love letter to visual storytelling and, in its use of a stuntman as a protagonist, the tactile potential of cinema in the hands of dreamers and fabulists.

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