“Viggo Mortensen is a Columbia County neighbor. He grew up in Watertown, New York, and even set some scenes in this film there. Falling, Mortensen’s first feature film as a director, is a surprisingly bittersweet drama. It was selected as Sundance Closing Night Film in 2020, just before the pandemic shut everything down. Mortensen plays the Los Angeles son of a crusty, conservative, and cantankerous octogenarian who, realizing he can no longer take care of his upstate farm, moves in with his son and his son’s husband. Mortensen films with an assured and empathetic hand, abetted by a superb cast that includes Lance Henriksen, Laura Linney and fellow filmmaker David Cronenberg.” – Laurence Kardish, FilmColumbia co-artistic director and former senior film curator at MoMA
“…a sensitive and assured directing debut.” — Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
“Lance Henriksen gives the performance of his career as an emasculated father facing dementia, but it’s writer-director-star Viggo Mortensen who makes the film’s universal themes resonate so strongly.” — Peter Debruge, Variety
Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen, Lance Henriksen, Sverrir Gudnason