Falling Down: Klein’s Debut Exploits Economic Realities for Mixed Crime Drama
Exploring the ravaged remnants of the façade once referred to as the American Dream, editor turned director Saar Klein explores the slippery slope of middle class tendencies when faced with economic downturns in After the Fall. Initially titled “Things People Do” when it premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, the new moniker tends to favor the film’s less poetic, more pointedly exploitational elements with a film that mistakes timeliness for sincerity. Filled with convenient turns and easily attainable avenues of retribution, the film ultimately seems like an archaic example of the dangerous follies of patriarchy. Impossible standards placed on the role of a breadwinner in a modern world too costly to maintain when chained to the fantasy of the nuclear familial unit seems a promising angle, yet Klein never seems to get off the fence and into the dirt.
Exploring the ravaged remnants of the façade once referred to as the American Dream, editor turned director Saar Klein explores the slippery slope of middle class tendencies when faced with economic downturns in After the Fall. Initially titled “Things People Do” when it premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, the new moniker tends to favor the film’s less poetic, more pointedly exploitational elements with a film that mistakes timeliness for sincerity. Filled with convenient turns and easily attainable avenues of retribution, the film ultimately seems like an archaic example of the dangerous follies of patriarchy. Impossible standards placed on the role of a breadwinner in a modern world too costly to maintain when chained to the fantasy of the nuclear familial unit seems a promising angle, yet Klein never seems to get off the fence and into the dirt.
- 12/11/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
One glance at the poster for After the Fall and you should expect a low-rent, straight-to-dvd revenge thriller starring Wes Bentley. The American Beauty actor stands menacingly in front of a giant backdrop of the American flag, a scar blistering from his left cheek. He is also wearing a suit and holding a gun. However, the debut film from Israeli writer/director Saar Klein is actually a low-key family drama about a father trying his best to hide his lies and life of petty crime from his wife and kids. The film deals with a protagonist as fraudulent as that one-sheet.
Bentley stars as Bill Scanlon, an insurance man who was recently fired from his job. Instead of telling his wife, Susan (Vinessa Shaw), he keeps up a charade, explaining he is up for a promotion. In one of the film’s early scenes, he tells his eldest son, Henry...
Bentley stars as Bill Scanlon, an insurance man who was recently fired from his job. Instead of telling his wife, Susan (Vinessa Shaw), he keeps up a charade, explaining he is up for a promotion. In one of the film’s early scenes, he tells his eldest son, Henry...
- 12/11/2014
- by Jordan Adler
- We Got This Covered
The absurdly wrong poster for After the Fall — which shows Wes Bentley toting a gun in front of the American flag, a scar visible on his left cheek — promises a tacky VOD actioner in the Nicolas Cage mode. In truth, however, the movie is a sincere, dialed-in character study — light on shoot-'em-ups, heavy on moral and emotional reflection. Some context explains this discrepancy: First-time co-writer/director Saar Klein is a veteran editor whose résumé includes two Terrence Malick films (The Thin Red Line and The New World). Malick receives a "special thanks" credit here, and rightfully so — his fingerprints (or at least the influence of them) are all over this movie. When insurance agent Bill Scanlon (Ben...
- 12/10/2014
- Village Voice
Wes Bentley rarely takes on leading roles, probably partially because his youthful, nondescript features lead audiences to identify with him most as a background player. Things People Do, a quiet drama directed by The Thin Red Line editor Saar Klein, finds Bentley taking on the main role of insurance adjuster Bill Scanlon, who turns to a life of crime when always playing the nice guy leaves him jobless and heavily in debt. Unfortunately, the film’s plodding, ham-fisted narrative allows neither Bentley nor Things People Do as a whole any opportunity to leave even the slightest impression.
Klein and co-writer Joe Conway clearly wanted their film to be received as a morality play, with seemingly every line of dialogue holding deeper meaning. In moderation, symbolic dialogue can be one of a screenwriter’s most potent weapons, but here it’s more exhausting than enlightening. One of the reasons Things People Do...
Klein and co-writer Joe Conway clearly wanted their film to be received as a morality play, with seemingly every line of dialogue holding deeper meaning. In moderation, symbolic dialogue can be one of a screenwriter’s most potent weapons, but here it’s more exhausting than enlightening. One of the reasons Things People Do...
- 3/9/2014
- by Isaac Feldberg
- We Got This Covered
SXSW is less than a month away and ShockYa.com is thrilled to announce that we’ll be on the ground in Austin, Texas for the event. There are loads of films on the line-up we’re aiming to catch, one of which is Academy Award nominated editor Saar Klein’s directorial debut, “Things People Do.” The film stars Wes Bentley as Bill Scanlon, a man who loses his job and can’t bring himself to tell his wife (Vinessa Shaw). Rather than risk losing his family, he opts to cover up the issue by becoming a criminal. Soon after taking the plunge and getting his hands a little dirty, Bill starts to enjoy the [ Read More ]
The post Exclusive: Image Of Wes Bentley In The SXSW Selection Things People Do appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Exclusive: Image Of Wes Bentley In The SXSW Selection Things People Do appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 2/13/2014
- by Perri Nemiroff
- ShockYa
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