Viggo Mortensen does it all in his directing debut Falling Writer/producer/director/scorer also stars in this graceful tale of a gay man trying to reconcile with his father
Author of the article: Chris Knight
Publishing date: Feb 05, 2021 • February 9, 2021 • 1 minute read • Lance Henriksen and Viggo Mortensen play father and son in Falling. Photo by Mongrel Media
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Viggo Mortensen seems to have pulled a Clint Eastwood with
Falling. Not only is the film his directing debut; he wrote, produced, scored and stars as John Peterson, a gay man whose ageing father, Willis (Lance Henriksen), is suffering from dementia. John hosts his dad on a visit to California, where the old man is looking for a new place to live.
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Drama
John (Viggo Mortensen) was born to a loving mother, Gwen (Hannah Gross), and a father Willis (Lance Henriksen), who embraces masculinity, taking his son duck hunting while he s a toddler and allowing him to pull the trigger. However, Willis also has a hair trigger temper, which eventually drives his wife away and alienates John and his younger sister Sarah, who alternately hate and fear being in his presence.
When Willis is elderly and begins to show signs of dementia, John brings him to his home in California in order to be able to take care of the man. However, in his elder years, Willis has become more toxic than ever. A stream of racist and homophobic comments constantly flow from his mouth. John, who is gay, is married to another man and has an adopted daughter, but despite his horrific experience as a child with his father, still feels bound by duty to take care of Willis.
Viggo Mortensen, Lance Henriksen relive family trauma in Falling
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Viggo Mortensen wrote, directed and stars in Falling. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
Willis (Lance Henriksen, left) refuses his son John s (Viggo Mortensen) help caring for him with dementia. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution
Viggo Mortensen (R) directs Lance Henriksen in Falling. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution
John (Viggo Mortensen, left) reminds his father Willis (Lance Henriksen) that he asked John for help. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4 (UPI) Academy Award-nominated
Green Book and Falling, which he also wrote.
Although Mortensen s script was fictional, he said he drew on events from his family s life, including parents coping with dementia. He dedicated the film to his brothers, Charles and Walter Mortensen, for that reason.
Viggo Mortensen is a terrific actor with a wealth of memorable screen work to his credit. Unfortunately, his feature directorial debut, “Falling,” does not, er, fall into that category, though it’s not for lack of trying: He also wrote, starred in, produced and scored this problematic film.
It’s a grim, oddly misguided attempt to tell the story of the fractious relationship between a gay airline pilot, John (Mortensen), and his thoroughly insufferable dad, Willis (Lance Henriksen), as the obstreperous senior sinks into dementia.
Set, for some reason, in 2009, the film finds upstate New York farmer Willis visiting John and his husband, Eric (Terry Chen), who’s a nurse, and their adopted daughter, Mönica (Gabby Velis), in Los Angeles. John wants Willis, who can no longer properly take care of himself, to move nearby, though that’s got disaster written all over it as does most everything else that involves the black-hearted bigot.