Review: The Last Fall (2012)

[Michael Dequina]

THE LAST FALL *** (out of ****)

The main character of Matthew A. Cherry's debut
feature THE LAST FALL, Kyle Bishop (Lance Gross),
can indeed be counted as part of the curtain- and
eyebrow-raising statistic about professional
football players taken from the pages of SPORTS
ILLUSTRATED: 78% are divorced, bankrupt, or
unemployed within two years after leaving the
game. The latter two apply to Kyle, who, as the
film opens, is cut from his latest squad, and
having already journeyed through various cities
and across various teams in various
inconsequential capacities, he gets a rude
awakening that at only 25, his dream career has
come to an end. With no money and nowhere to go,
he retreats back to his mother's (Vanessa Bell
Calloway) house as he struggles to figure out his
next move--or, more importantly, figure out who exactly he truly is.

That last point underscores just how well that
opening stat sets the stage for the film beyond a
simple plot application. If there is one
unifying thread for the entire film, it's neither
football nor sports in general, but the
shattering of illusions. In terms of the
characters of that come into Kyle's orbit and the
viewing audience itself, Cherry debunks the
widely held notion that all pro athletes have
wealthy livelihoods and lead glamorous lives;
Kyle's situation reflects the workaday majority
for whom playing sports for a paycheck is a dream
but, at the end of a day, a job. That reality is
the crux of Kyle's predicament: he had a dream,
worked his entire life to achieve it, and
accordingly was blessed to live it, albeit not in
exactly the most idealized fashion. But
generally no one ever comes to think about
needing to do anything after the dream, and
having been so identified by it for so long--by
others and himself--Kyle falls into a state of
limbo even more internal than external,
confronted with the task of once and for all
defining himself apart from what it is that he does.

Cherry doesn't follow the obvious nor easy
directions that would follow that set-up. The
return home would suggest a clichéd "rejuvenating
rediscovery of roots" arc, but going back proves
to be a necessary step not so much to regress
back to basics than to witness how those close to
him have been able to progress and evolve beyond
what had been familiar to him. His mother is
living the active dating life of a mature single
woman; his kid sister (Yaani King) is in the
growing pains of becoming a young adult; and, to
his greatest surprise, Faith Davis (Nicole
Beharie), the high school sweetheart he abandoned
in favor of gridiron glory, is now a single
mom. The reconnected relationship between Kyle
and Faith best exemplifies Cherry's sensitive,
complex, and realistic approach to the film as a
whole. While there is that genuine warmth and
affection that comes with longtime familiarity,
there's also a certain tentativeness,
particularly on her end. Not only is she in a
different space in her life, she is secure in
that--and with the recognition and understanding
that he is not in his own similar place of
security, she can enjoy these new moments with
him for what they are, without any grand
expectations. For Kyle, his desire to make
amends and start anew with her is complicated, if
not contradicted, by his continued expectation
that the dream of the pro baller can and will still continue.

That sense of suspended animation appropriately
informs Cherry's approach to the entire
film. It's a very introspective story for all of
the characters, and accordingly the pace is
fairly slow and the tone is generally quite
subdued. With histrionics kept to a
minimum--even in the comparatively bigger
dramatic moments--it is that much more up to the
actors to engage the audience, and Cherry's trust
in them proves to be well placed. Gross displays
a heretofore unseen depth and piercing subtlety
to match his natural charisma, Kyle's existential
anguish vividly coming through in his expressive
stillness. Every bit his match is the luminous
Beharie, whose Faith is equal parts romantic
vulnerability and intelligent, independent
strength; their chemistry is all the more
believable and affecting because it is so
effortless and elegantly understated. That also
applies to all those surrounding them, to whom
Cherry is generous enough to give moments to
shine, whether they be key supporting players
such as Calloway and Keith David as Kyle's
parents or a briefly seen football contemporary
of Kyle's (Sinorice Moss), who has a disarming
scene that poignantly reflects not only Kyle's
situation but more or less that of anyone simply
trying to do their best for themselves and their loved ones.

And that's where Cherry excels with THE LAST
FALL: placing the viewer intimately into the mind
and heart of its protagonist and painting an
equally detailed and absorbing portrait of his
life and those who inhabit it. If there is some
awkwardness in the more plot-driven mechanics,
such as some contrivances involving Faith's son's
father (Darrin Dewitt Henson) and some exposition
that is not always the most gracefully integrated
into the fabric of the dialogue, the film more
than compensates with the richness of its
characterization and Cherry's distinct, assured
voice--one that will surely be heard even more loudly in the years to come.



(c)2012 Michael Dequina



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Michael Dequina
The Movie Report: http://www.themoviereport.com
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