''Falling'' is a 2008

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written, directed and starring

Richard Dutcher Richard Alan Dutcher (born 1964)Click "Biography" in the bottom-left of this web site: is an American independent filmmaker who produces, writes, directs, edits, and frequently stars in his films. After making '' God's Army'', a successful 2000 ...

. The film was released on January 18, 2008. Dubbed "The First R-rated Mormon Movie" during its brief theatrical run in 2008.

Cast

as Eric Boyle * Virginia Reece as Davey Boyle * Cesar Garcia as Ruiz * Frank Uzzolino as Hector * Maria Eberline as Lorena * Tennison Hightower as Linda * Hamilton Mitchell as Marc * Leonard Kelly-Young as Marvin

Production

Filming

The film was shot in Hollywood and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The film was financed by

(who was be writer, director, co-producer, actor and co-editor) with a budget of $500,000.

Release

The film was premiered in The Gateway Theater on January 18, 2008. The film also screened in Beverly Hills Music Hall on August 15, 2008. ''Falling'' was later screened in Camelot Theaters (

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) on 2009. The film was screened at

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on 2011. The film was officially re-released on April 27, 2012 in Broadway Centre Cinemas in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Reception

Critical response

The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' said: "''Falling'' is one of the best pictures of its kind in recent memory", and Dave Wolverton from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said: "''Falling'' is one of the 5 most powerful films I have ever seen."

BoxOffice Magazine ''Boxoffice Pro'' is a film industry magazine dedicated to the movie theatre business published by BoxOffice Media LP. History It started in 1920 as ''The Reel Journal'', taking the name ''Boxoffice'' in 1931 and still publishes today, with ...

get to ''Falling'' four stars and said: "An important and indelible work ... impossible to forget.", and Wade Major said: "Dutcher has joined the ranks of the very best independent filmmaker in the world."

''Nightcrawler'' lawsuit

After the theatrical premiere of '' Nightcrawler'', Richard Dutcher sued the director, claiming ''Nightcrawler'' is a

rip-off ''Rip Off'' is a multidirectional shooter with black and white vector graphics written by Tim Skelly and released in arcades by Cinematronics in 1980. It was the first shooter with cooperative gameplay and an early game to exhibit flocking behav ...

of his film. Since the main character of the film ''Nightcrawler'', as well in the film ''Falling'', is a journalist who sells records of crimes and

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

s to various media, and the action of both films takes place in Los Angeles. Dutcher's attorney Stephen Silverman stated that ''Nightcrawler'' has enough in common with ''Falling''. After three years, American judge

Dee Benson Dee Vance Benson (August 25, 1948 – November 30, 2020) was a Senior United States district judge and chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. He was briefly a professional soccer player. He was nominated as ju ...

agreed that the two films have some similarities. On August 19, 2019, Benson eventually closed the case, saying that similar elements are a necessary ingredient for stringer-themed films and that the two films are too different to have any major

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

References

External links

{{IMDb title, id=0790660, title=Falling 2008 films 2008 independent films 2008 drama films Lost drama films Lost American films American drama films Films about murder Films directed by Richard Dutcher Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in California American independent films 2000s lost films