FIND ME FALLING - Mark Reviews Movies

Find Me Falling, Netflix

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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 18, 2024

It's telling that a government cultural agency gets fairly high billing in Find Me Falling. The movie, a pretty standard romantic comedy with a certain charm and admirable brevity, serves as a great way to sell the Mediterranean island country of Cyprus as either a tourist destination or a lovely place to live out a personal/professional crisis.

Our protagonist falls into the latter category. He's John Allman (Harry Connick Jr.), a former music star whose attempt a career comeback has failed. Connick, of course, is a professional crooner and occasional actor, who displays such ease, so much charm, and a sense of deadpan humor in this role that one kind of wishes he'd invest a bit more time in his side job.

His John has essentially given up on his profession, after his most recent album didn't do well and the life of an aging pop star has proven itself to be an empty one. Instead, he buys a house along the side of a cliff in Cyprus, hanging out and hoping that not too many, if any, people in the local town notice their formerly famous neighbor.

The story, written by director Stelana Kliris, is simple but slightly odd enough that there's some pleasant uncertainty as to where it's heading. Take the introduction to this tale, which has John spotting a man standing on the edge of the cliff outside his house. He doesn't think much of it, except that the man is trespassing on his slice of misery.

When the stranger jumps to his death, the singer is shocked to discover that he purchased a house next to, as the local police captain Manoli (Tony Demetriou) calls it, a "suicide hotspot." The cop gives John his phone number, in case any other visitors stand too close to the cliff, and that's all anyone is willing to do about it. John starts building a fence—not necessarily to stop people from jumping, but definitely to try to keep people away from him.

This isn't the foundation of the real story, of course, but it does become a key part of understanding John and, eventually, how he changes over the course of the actual plot. It's a lot of formula, having to do with an old love, a young person who teaches John a few lessons about himself, and how John reconciles his past with whatever the future might have in store for him. The story may be entirely predictable once the pieces and players are in place, but it is, at least, more about these characters than the complicated situation in which they find themselves.

The major part of it is John's unexpected reunion with Sia (Agni Scott), a local doctor. A couple decades or so ago when John was just an aspiring musician living on the island, the two were deeply in love. His biggest hit, about a girl on a beach, was written about her, in fact, and much to the chagrin of both of them, the song remains a staple of local radio. Anyway, John got his shot at fame, took it, and left Cyprus and Sia behind, although he has returned to the island for a reason that has little to do with the cozy streets of the town, the assault of delectable dishes that keeps coming his way at the local tavern, and the stunning views of the sea from atop the cliff.

Somehow, the serenity of the setting seems to have become infused into Kliris' screenplay, which goes through the familiar beats—of revelations and comedic misunderstandings and grand gestures of romance—but takes a relaxed approach in getting at them. There's no hurry here, as John goes grocery shopping for the first time in a long time, sits alone in a despondent state in his house, is forced to have a good time with the police captain, and suddenly finds himself with new friends and an old lover.

One of those new acquaintances is Melina (Ali Fumiko Whitney), who works at the grocers by day and performs at the bar at night. She's talented. John recognizes that, and she recognizes him as the star he once was. They talk music and vaguely about John's past on Cyprus, and that's all that will be said about Melina's relationship with John, except that Kliris is wise to shoot down any hint at romance between them from the very beginning. There's a very, very good reason for that within the story, but it's nice that both characters find even the idea of such a clichéd notion irritating well before that's brought to light.

There are some complications here and there, such as a dinner date with Sia that becomes a quick string of miscommunications and misinterpretations, but Kliris shows some affection and understanding for her central trio of characters. In this movie, they actually talk about their relationships—how they went wrong and what it might take, if anything, to set them right again—and where life has taken them and why they decided to do what they did.

It's refreshing enough that the story's various eccentricities and the last-minute arrival of a young woman (played by Athina Roditou) on the cliff distract from the solid core of a tale about regret, rekindled love, and the discovery of a new role in life for John. Find Me Falling nearly gets that right.

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