The art film ‘The Fall’, which was re-released after 6 years, is quietly creating a storm with its unexpected box office success. Even in a time of theater recession where large-scale commercial blockbusters starring top actors are suffering, the film is recording unusual box office success, and director Tarsem Singh, who directed the film, visited Korea to express his gratitude to the audience.

The film, which was released in theaters in 2008, was re-released on December 25th of last year with some scenes added and 4K remastered under the title ‘The Fall: Director‘s Cut’, and has attracted a cumulative audience of 102,403 as of the 5th of this month. Despite its small release as an independent art film, it has consistently ranked within the top 10 of the overall box office, including commercial films, and has caused a stir by attracting more than five times the audience compared to when it was released 16 years ago.

The success of ‘The Fall’ is thanks to word of mouth among cinephiles as a “hidden masterpiece”. The film is about a stuntman who is paralyzed from the waist down telling a fantastical fictional story about five warriors to a child he meets at the hospital where he is hospitalized, and shows the process of a person who has lost hope regaining the meaning of life.

In particular, the film is surprising in that the fantastic and surreal scenes appearing in the fictional story told by the stuntman were completed not with CG or sets, but on location in 28 countries. Accordingly, it is also considered a work that “must be seen on the big screen in a theater” among the audience.

As ‘The Fall’ proved the immutable truth that “a good movie will be recognized someday” through its re-release, director Tarsem Singh (63) even went so far as to visit Korea for the first time in his life. It is also unusual for a director to visit Korea for a re-released film.

At a press conference held at CGV Yongsan I-Park Mall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 6th, director Singh said, “It feels like movies have been revived” due to the unusual box office success in Korea. “It’s like watching a disabled baby who could only crawl run again after 20 years. It‘s truly amazing that it’s being spotlighted by Korean audiences like this,” he was moved.

He continued, “If there‘s an interesting subject matter, I’d like to make a film in Korea too. A country with a different culture is like another planet. “Korea in particular seems to be closer to a universe of another dimension than the planet,” he said with a smile.


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.