Sound of Falling

This slow, arty, two-and-a-half-hour, subtitled German film, which is a meditation on death (and sex) is certainly not going to be everyone's cup of tea. However it is mine,

- a big pot of it - and it flew by, utterly captivating. Set on a farm with an overlapping muti-generational story line, we flip-flop between four different timelines (around 1910, WWII, sometime in the '80s, and present day). There is no clear narrative except maybe the mystery of an amputated leg. The colours of this film are black and eggshell; straw yellow; sun-bleached grey barn board; 50 shades of dirt; dark plum; and all things cattle, horse, and beige pig. Sound of Falling captures wonderful family dynamics that feel reminiscent of Fellini - including a family game of riding a bicycle and trying to pick an eel out of a tub to toss it into another (those wacky Europeans and their eel-bike games). And then there is the suicidal daydreams - the "what ifs." Sound of Falling is filled with these. What if I were to. . . I won't spoil the death fantasies of young German girls for you. The images linger - far more memorable and haunting than any horror film, yet without the graphic violence. I'm in awe of the fact that this film exists. It's another example of why I go to the movies. Catch this at the Mayfair or Bytowne here in Ottawa or go rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when it becomes available.