Falling

When his 80-year old father Willis (Lance Henriksen, in top form) starts struggling on his New York farm, son John (writer-director-star Viggo Mortensen) brings him out to California to stay with him and his husband Eric (Terry Chen), and be closer to Willis’ daughter Sarah (Laura Linney). Given Willis is an unreconstructed sexist, racist, and homophobe, John is well aware that things are not going to be easy… Mortensen draws on his own history for an alternately scathing and deeply moving drama that is as elegantly acted and directed as it is occasionally shocking.

‘A bold, brave first effort behind the camera for Viggo Mortensen… Two things are remarkable, really: one is Henriksen’s performance, among his very best in a 60-plus-year career. The other is Mortensen’s seemingly instant aptitude as a filmmaker. He has a clear eye for composition and staging; he’s visually economic but sometimes quite daring; and his script is refreshingly non-linear and rarely goes in the direction you expect. This is not “A Dementia Film,” as the subject matter might imply, and it offers no easy solutions for difficult questions, or obvious resolutions.’—John Nugent, Empire