So I watch movies a lot -maybe too much sometimes- but it's mostly on my phone or laptop. I hardly ever bother with TV at home, not because I'm too cool or anything like that. It's just.... the setup doesn't work for me. The sitting room chair feels too far from the TV (even if people say it's not that far, my shortsighted eyes say otherwise), and the TV in my bedroom? Same story. And I'm not a fan of wearing my glasses indoors, so most times if I do try to watch TV, I end up standing awkwardly close to the screen like a confused bodyguard.
Anyway, around Christmas last year, I actually sat down in the parlor, wore my glasses (which is a rare event on its own) and watched a movie called Fall with my mom
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Fall is simple but wild. Two girls -Becky and Hunter- decides to climb a rusting 2,000 foot tower in the middle of nowhere. Sounds like a terrible idea, right? One of them was trying to heal from something tragic, and the other.... well, peer pressure is a hell of a thing.
So, it gets worse: once they got to the top, the ladder breaks off. Now they're stuck and there's no way down
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This movie plays on a very primal fear -heights. Like, proper vertigo-inducing heights. Every shot from above had me clutching my chest. The cinematography is brilliant for what it is 🎥. It's not just flashy drone shots, the film makes you feel the danger, the helplessness, the panic. And because it's just two people in one location, you'd expect it to drag but it doesn't
There's tension, desperation and a few emotional gut punches that I didn't expect. Especially that twist in the second half.... I won't spoil it but I genuinely gasped. The way grief, guilt and survival play out was deeper than I thought a movie like this would go. And even though it's mostly a thriller, there's an undercurrent of emotional pain -especially with Becky trying to process the loss of her husband
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Now, my mom spent the entire movie screaming at the girls on screen. Let me just say, some African moms don't watch thrillers quietly. From the moment they started climbing, she was already fed up
She kept shouting things like:
climb what? For what? Are they mad?
Why would anyone in their right mind climb something like this?
So this is how you people would do? For content?
If you were my daughter, I'd beat sense back into you the moment you get down
At some point, she literally got up from the chair, pointed at the screen and started warning them like she was their neighbourhood auntie. I couldn't stop laughing. Honestly, she added more tension to the movie than the plot did.
She was so emotional invested, it became part of the entertainment. At some point I wasn't even sure what had me more tense -the movie or her shouting each time the wind shook the tower. And believe me, she didn't stop until the credits rolled
Fall is one those movies that surprised me. I didn't expect much going in, but it really delivered on suspense, visuals and even a little bit of emotional weight. It was simple but effective -and by the end, I was genuinely impressed
Wearing my glasses indoors is not something I enjoy. I feel weird with them on but I have to wear them when I'm outside. But I wore them that night because the movie looked too good to be squinting my way through. And honestly? No regrets
Would I recommend it? Definitely, especially if you're into movies that keep your heart rate up. The fear of heights is very real in this one. The acting was solid too -Grace Caroline Currey and Virginia Gardner carried the whole thing on their backs, literally and emotionally
But what made the experience unforgettable was watching it with my mom. I don't sit down to watch TV and we don't often watch stuff together, so it felt special and loud. Definitely loud
So yeah, 8/10 for the movie, 100/10 for my mom's dramatic commentary 🤣💫
If you've seen Fall, what do you think about it? Or better -have you ever watched a thriller with an African parent?