Fall (2022)

**might contain spoilers**
What a great murder mystery film. As an amateur climber, I too was initially put off by the amount of unprofessional climbing techniques. However, if they were truly climbing/solo enthusiasts, how could they not get injured way before they take on any big challenges? (And from a filmmaking perspective, with climbing being such a popular sports, surly it is not hard to get some random joe from the gym to tell the film crew that those techniques are horrible! also there are other suspicious common-sense defying points later…) The answer of course, what we watched is just simply a **recounting of Becky’s version of what transpired!!!** Then all the inaccuracies makes perfect sense as that’s how you get the authorities to believe why the “accidents” happened in the first place — sheer negligence and amateur skills!
I believe what happened was that Becky found out that she was cheated on, then plotted to get rid of the asshat by either screwing with the cam placements and/or - as filmed but with a malignant intent - to get rid of the rope too liberally. And no one else knows exactly how good the cam placements are or whether they were tempered with - Hunter is way above them busy down-climbing!
Then, this explains perfectly her year-long depression as even if not fully planned out, her imo premeditated actions naturally put herself in even deeper sense of guilt.
Then there’s the forever unknowable fact that whether the tower trips is truly initiated by Hunter. Possibly Becky saw Hunter is living a guilt-free life and had another urge for murder and proposed to feed Hunter this great youtube/instagram clickbait trip to convince her to come along! Although the film depicts that Hunter is very heartwarming at times, it’s entirely plausible that Hunter **is** in fact the care-free personality that she demonstrates in **all her videos online!** (which might makes her more murderable in Becky’s eye). So Becky could be using a very high-IQ way of framing her victims as compassionate sweethearts.
Finally, the biggest telltale sign that the final accident is premeditated (and possibly intended by the filmcrew/writer) is that when Becky lastly went for Hunter’s body to drop down the phone, she **instinctively — rightfully so for a climber** clipped the carabiner to the lowest stable point which is the as yet unbroken ladder!!!(and the film gave this a real good close-up) Why on earth wouldn’t Hunter do that when she went down to retrieve the bag???!!! This is not just bad climbing, this defies common sense! We were all screaming how stupid it was of Hunter to do what she did in the bag sequence and now we know, **these are all extremely likely fabrications recounted by Becky at the end of the accident!**
Lastly, some keen chinese filmgoers also noted the “mistake” on the poster where in fact **the ladders are failing while Becky’s at the top and Hunter is still climbing!** Maybe this is a hint from the production team ;)
**welp anyways it’s just a theory :p I probably watched too many asian sope-operas**

Going into Fall, I did not have super high hopes, and unfortunately it met my expectations. This movie attempts to be something far greater than it ever needed to be, resulting in a super bloated experience that just feels completely unfocused. The nearly two-hour runtime is entirely too long for a plot that is on the surface, fairly bare bones. But the screenplay attempts to deliver multiple subplots that are supposed to develop our characters, but all it did was take away from the tension that it was building. For every scene where I was gripping my chair waiting to see what will happen next, there is a scene where the two characters talk about their feelings for far too long. Furthermore, there are story elements that are either too convenient or exist solely as obstacles for the sake of obstacles which detract from the overall believability.
I do think Grace Caroline Currey is going to have a fantastic future in this industry, but her performance alongside Virginia Gardner left a lot to be desired. Currey did her best to save a pretty horrendous script, but it just was not enough. Despite this, the movie was directed fairly well, with great shots of the tower and of the action that was ensuing. The cinematography was fantastic, with beautiful skyboxes and sharp silhouettes of our protagonists that I particularly enjoyed.
Overall, I think this film would have been much better if it had stuck to being a cheesy thriller with a bare bones plot. All the extra filler really weighed down the overall experience.
Score: 35% 💩
Verdict: Bad