Written, directed, edited and produced by leading actor Alan King, eager to put his turbulent past far behind, controversial author Vincent Tremblay, now lives a quiet life, in the Aussie bush, alongside close mate, Gunther. However, the men’s peace is shattered following a dark discovery in a nearby dam. Also starring: Bill Evans, Greg Fleet, Stephen Hepburn, Snjezana Hadzic, Jodi Saunders and Leila McDougall.
Watching the first few minutes of La La Falls you’d likely never guess where it was headed or even the tone it would take (if you haven’t watched the trailer), which was a great move by Alan King. He opens the film on this vaguely mysterious, curious note to give the audience no true indication of what it is, and zero chance to immediately make assumptions. So, to then switch to an outlandish situation delivered in such a delightfully casual nature takes you by surprise and quickly draws you into this unusual, odd adventure, of sorts.
That deadpan sense of humour is something that King delivers all throughout La La Falls in a brilliant manner. It’s consistent but is also unexpectedly then layered with sincerity and sweetness. That’s because King creates such fantastic characters in Vincent (King) and Gunther (Bill Evans), they’re just a couple of simple, kind blokes. There is true skill in being able to deliver characters who can be naïve adults without feeling moronic, melodramatic, useless or artificial, so King deserves a lot of credit for creating Vincent and Gunther who are lovable and capable, if too trusting.
When you’re crafting an offbeat adventure, it lives or dies with the characters and along with the excellent writing, King and Evans make these two lovely fellas a joy to watch. Their friendship is utterly natural and convincing because the performances from King and Evans are superb. Considering La La Falls comes in at that sweet spot of just under ninety-minutes, it’s one of the rare occasions where you wish it was a little longer because it’s not quite enough time with these two. To watch them get caught up in things they have no business getting involved with and being entirely unbothered by the risks and danger they find themselves in, simply rolling with the punches, is endlessly entertaining.
They’re then very well supported by the ragtag bunch who fill out the ensemble. Snjezana Hadzic as Gunther’s sister Vesna is a particular highlight, her performance comes entirely out of nowhere and ends up creating such memorable moments. Particularly in the later scenes where she nicely leans into the film’s casually dark sense of humour. She complements La La Falls so well because she’s yet another addition to its warmth and openness, which is such an unusual find in a comedy like this. The cast and crew really did a phenomenal job of balancing the grounded feel with the chaos.
That natural feel is something that La La Falls actually delivers on all fronts, the pacing in particular because King is able to take his time, there’s no mad dash through this chaotic journey, it’s relatively slow, without ever feeling slow paced. Especially as King does a wonderful job of employing those comedic pauses, lingering on shots to embrace the awkwardness and discomfort. Two things he uses exceptionally well, it’s not easy to make an audience feel uncomfortable with comedy without being cringeworthy or gross, but King does it seamlessly.
Undoubtedly a good part of that is how genuine La La Falls feels, it makes you uncomfortable in an enjoyable way because these are such charming, down to earth characters. That’s really the atmosphere and personality of the whole film, the situation may be outlandish but that never bleeds into the film, it keeps its feet firmly on the ground. King’s understated directorial style serves the film perfectly, and because of that he’s able to effectively thread in a growing suspense, anticipation and a little bit of violence.
La La Falls is brilliant, funny, unexpected, unusual, grounded, lovable, casually dark and extremely well made on all fronts. It’s shot well, that black and white cinematography (from Michael Schoell & Samadhi Schoell) serves the film surprisingly well, as it can often be overused but here it matches the simplicity so well. On top of King’s strong direction, the editing is also great work, and it moves with a satisfying pacing and progression. The performances from Alan King and Bill Evans are genuinely fantastic, it’s truly original and it’s a bloody good time.
And, as La La Falls rightly points out, there’s never a bad time for a cup of tea and a piece of cake.
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