The Fall

Alan loved film, and would always dig up films we hadn't even heard of, and watch them with us. In January 2014, we were in Galena, Illinois with Mom and Dad. We had driven there together and met them there, which involved driving along river bluffs shrouded in winter fog, and sometimes with very little traction. Isabelle was stranded in Canada due to the whole polar vortex thing.

While we sat around eating popcorn and beef jerky, we first watched a film made by Stanley Kubrick before he was big -- Fear and Desire. Skip it. It was horrible. Then, we watched The Fall, a movie by Tarsem (Singh). Here's the trailer:

The film is available on Netflix, and features Lee Pace, who went on to become more well known in Halt and Catch Fire, The Hobbit, and Guardians of the Galaxy. It's a visually stunning story in a story, told by a man, envisioned by a little girl. I highly recommend it.

As does the trailer, the film heavily features the second movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. Alan and I both became temporarily obsessed with its overly melodramatic character and its mathematical layering of parts.

This musical animation of the movement shows how each new group of instruments comes in with the first line as the last moves onto the second before joining the texture of the background.

Riding in the car with Alan was the one setting where we seemed to have the most conversations. Sometimes, it was just about the music we were listening to, either his or mine. Other times, we talked about life (or Star Trek or anime or politics or school). These rides were one of the few times Alan was truly a captive audience, and he couldn't hole himself up in the basement or run off with friends. Oh, how I long for one more ride with him.