Before the Fall
Before the Fall
| 25 April 2008 (USA)
Before the Fall Trailers

A meteorite will destroy the world in three days. For Ale, that means 72 hours of alone time, getting as drunk as possible. But when a mysterious drifter appears, the self-serving Ale faces a more immediate danger. Now, he finds himself protecting his mother and his brother's children from his fellow man in humanity's final hours. Daniel Casadella co-stars in this thought-provoking drama.

Reviews
ma-cortes

This is a mix of drama, thrills , terror and end of world doom and gloom ; add to that a really magnificent cast . The world learns that a planet killing meteorite will arrive in 72 hours . A giant meteorite is about to collide with Earth, and horrible events spread across the planet , then there emerging panic as well as creepy and eerie happenings happen . The planet is gripped by despair , destruction , massacre and chaos. The inhabitants of the little town of Laguna listen to theTV news in terror . One of them is Ale (Víctor Clavijo) who lives with his mother (Mariana Cordero) and her four grandsons . Later on , Ale to take care of the children . Then , Lucio (Eduard Fernández) , a weird and suspect individual shows up and things go wrong . The horror and action moments are fast moving and compactly realized . Gory and spooky terror/sci-Fi film is entertaining for fans of the genre . The main premise turns out the be the following : What would you do if the world was going to end in 72 hours? This exciting picture contains intense drama , thrills, chills , graphic violence ,and action-filled . This is an effective and simple movie ; it results to be an acceptable Spanish horror , including functional special effects realized in traditional style, including brief C.G. The picture results to be interesting and thought-provoking because of his rich analysis of human morality in the context of extreme conditions . The creepy images of wide range from the genuinely horrifying to the bizarre along with scary and amazing frames . It is a great roller-coaster ride, from beginning to end , though action and terror really starts when a rare role show up . Victor Clavijo gives a very good acting as a young decides to spend his last days shut away, getting drunk and listening to music, but his schemes change when he is forced to protect his brother's children. As well as Eduard Fernández as an ambiguous, disturbing stranger . It packs suspenseful and thrilling musical score by Antonio Meliveo . And colorful and glimmer cinematography by Miguel Ángel Mora . In 2007, Gutiérrez received an offer from Antonio Banderas and Antonio P. Pérez to write and direct his first feature film, Before the Fall (2008). The film premiered at the official section "Special Panorama" at the Berlin Film Festival and gained traction in Europe. He also directed a piece for the series Diminutos del Calvario II. Gutiérrez's piece, La habitación de Norman (Norman's Room), a claustrophobic tribute to Hitchcock's Psycho, was praised by film fan magazines and websites in the United States. And he founded in 2001 his own Film Production Company: "Dr. T Producciones Cinematograficas, S.L.". Subsequently , he made the successful ¨Rings¨ (2017) . This ¨Tres días¨ had several awards : Goya Awards 2009 Winner Goya Best Sound . Málaga Spanish Film Festival 2008 (Mejor Sonido) Winner Best First Screenplay F. Javier Gutiérrez ,Juan Velarde Winner Golden Biznaga F. Javier Gutiérrez , Winner Silver Biznaga Best Supporting Actress : Mariana Cordero and Best Make-Up . Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 2009 Winner CEC Award Best Editing Nacho Ruiz Capillas , CEC Award Best Cinematography Miguel Ángel Mora . Sci-Fi Channel Audience Award and Jury's Special Mention in the Nantes International Science-Fiction Festival (France). Best Feature Film Award in the Trieste International Science-Fiction Film Festival (Italy) . Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival 2009 Winner Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver F. Javier Gutiérrez .Screamfest 2009 was Winner Festival Trophy Best Actor: Víctor Clavijo , Best Cinematography: Miguel Ángel Mora , Best Director : F. Javier Gutiérrez, Best Editing : Nacho Ruiz Capillas . And the movie was #3 in the 2008 International Watch List, the list of the best foreign movies of the year elaborated by Hollywood studio executives every year.

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dbborroughs

(Spoilers are ahead. I talk about the end so don't say I didn't warn you) Saw this on IFC in Theaters service, though I know the DVD recently came out.With only four days left before a meteor is to crash into the earth, the governments of the world tell the populations of the world. As panic and prayer ensue one man tries to make peace with himself, the world and his family. Unfortunately a serial killer has gotten out of prison and made his way to the family house in the country. Forced through circumstance he must now protect his brothers children before the meteor kills everyone on the face of the earth.Talk about damned if you do damned if you don't. This is not a particularly happy movie. they basically tell you at the start that there is no hope, so the question is do you lay down and go now or fight until the last possible minute. thematically this is the life of anyone who ever has been told they are going to die and decided to fight to the bitter end. I'm not sure we need a film this bleak to lay it out for us.Actually I'm not sure what to think of this film. Its two excellent films, an end of the world tale beautifully made and nicely well modulated, more so since the whole notion of the adults knowing whats coming and the kids don't adds a nice shading to the tale. At the same time the serial killer story is well done and scary, with some nicely nasty turns. The problem is that in the process of shoehorning them together both stories are kind of undone. The meditative nature of the end of the world tale (which I should say kind of reminds me of Andre Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice) gets lost when faced with the serial killer. The serial killer plot while very tense is short circuited by knowing beating hims doesn't matter. I have no doubt that should something like a meteor threaten the earth something like this could happen, but at the same time watching it kind of seems pointless. If the film could have somehow made the two parts work better together this might have been a great film. As it stands its a good film thats too bleak to contemplate and too fractured to feel satisfying.Worth a try, but you'll know where its going from the outset so don't say I didn't warn you.6 out of 10 because of its fractious nature. the pieces are actually much higher than that.

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ynoel-2

Great photography. Good acting (within the Films very limited range), including that of the kids. It's the best Spanish film I've seen in 2 years. The film is pathetic. In a deserted village 72h before the end of the World, there's fire, a 4 year-old girl plays with a broken and dirty doll…? Wow, we're already in absurd cliché land. But then comes… a man's hand, offering her… a candy. Yes, a candy, can you believe it! Because we are supposed to understand that a few hours before the world ends perverts roam deserted villages in search of 4 year-old girls. Oh dear. Who on earth are those responsible for such Hollywood-influenced narrative stupidities in Spanish films? Maybe the director lives too long in the States; maybe he was seeking to fulfil the necessary dose of superficiality and gratuitous sensationalism in order to secure USA distribution. Is it a thriller? An apocalypse movie? A romance? A horror movie? A child abuser story? It's trying to cover as much territory as possible and manages nothing. Unmotivated and repeated cruelty towards children, child killings (by hanging), child rape, …my God, there is serious narrative prostitution to the service of the easy manipulation of audiences 'fears'. It is inexcusable. Shameless in fact. It seems they complained in the Spanish press that no one went to see the film in Spain, and they had the gall to claim the film was not at all a copycat version of American models. Oh please. This is omitting to detail the enormous gaps in the script, in-credibility (a girl playing the flute under the andalucian summer heat at midday?!), ridiculous coincidences, completely illogical moments (they still have lights after the apocalypse has smashed onto earth?), but all so useful when one wants to avoid having to work over a script. False synthetic music (but OK effects), clichés ad-vomitum, I tried to hold on till the end but... When in the final scenes the unknown 'pretty woman' shows up out of nowhere and for no reason, I just turned the thing off. There is a limit of ridicule that medium intelligent people can bare in one session. There should have been a new edit made of the film, in which 93 minutes was removed.

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Coventry

I personally cherish a vast fascination for apocalyptic-themed Sci-Fi & horror movies and have seen a truckload of titles in this style, but I can honestly state I have never seen anything quite like Javier Guttierez' "Before the Fall". It's one of the most emotionally unsettling, uniquely structured, unpretentiously honest and hauntingly beautiful movies I've ever seen in my life. "Before the Fall" isn't just a movie about an all-devastating meteorite; this is a movie about choices, personal sacrifices, unconditional devotion, persistence and even a tiny sparkle of hope. The vast majority of "the-end-is-near" movies deal with trying to find a method to prevent the apocalypse from happening and/or focus on a small group of people as they are preparing a new beginning for after the complete destruction. Guttierez' film – deeply impressive for a long feature debut – makes it pretty clear and irrefutable that there isn't any chance left of avoiding or surviving the Armageddon. The fade has been determined and everyone's doomed, but this magnificent parable handles about HOW to spend those precious last numbered days. This concept is utmost simplistic and straightforward but actually I haven't seen it in any other movie ever before, so even that "Before the Fall" is similar to a whole list of movies, it constantly feels original and courageous. The governments of all nations in the world one morning announce that a large meteorite will inevitably collide with earth in three days. They knew it longer already, but waited with the announcement in order to avoid anarchy, mass-hysteria and chaos as much as possible. That quickly turns out a wise decision, as anarchy, mass-hysteria and chaos are the only things ensuing after the announcement. The plot follows Ale, a small town carpenter who still lives with his mother and is generally regarded as a lazy and non-ambitious lowlife. Ale always lived in the shadows of his older brother Thomas, who became an immortal hero after helping to capture a notorious child murderer 15 years ago. Thomas is now successful, married and the father of four children. Immediately after the announcement of the upcoming apocalypse, riots in prison cause all criminals to escape, including the child murderer. Ale's mother is convinced the killer wants revenge against Thomas, but since he and his wife are abroad, she begs Ale to accompany her and protect the children. Ale is reluctant to spend existence's final three days babysitting, but gradually changes his mind as he notices the threat of the child killer is for real and because his nieces and nephews are still unaware of the imminent apocalypse. "Before the Fall" unfolds as a tragic drama, then converts into a highly exciting action-thriller and then eventually converts back into a tragic drama. Throughout the entire middle section, when Ale is trying to safeguard the children from a potential serial killer, the suspense and ambiance are so intense that you almost forget the Armageddon is approaching as well. Ale fights a battle to protect the kids and survive himself as well … only to die all together a couple of days later. As a viewer you constantly know this, but still you support and hope for Ale and the kids to remain alive as long as possible and even longer. "Before the Fall" is an enchanting, beautiful and thought-provoking movie with stupendous acting performances, chilling music and breath-taking filming locations. Careful sensitive viewers, as the movie also contains a handful of confronting bits of harsh violence, graphic bloodshed and nihilistic carnage. Easily the most overwhelming and dazzlingly brilliant movie I've seen in the past years; nothing short of a masterpiece.

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