Sitzmedia: "The Fall" In The Summer (Or Winter)

One thing about Costa Rica which has fairly confounded me, and which continues to do so to this day, is the way they designate seasons here. Right now it’s January, and here in Costa Rica we’re basically in what they call “Summer,” although in the United States and, indeed, nearly the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, it’s Winter.

Here in Coast Tasty, “Summer” goes from approximately the end of December to some vague date in April or May. At that point, the rainy season (or “Winter”) kicks in. Still, there are quite a few nice days up through July and possibly even August, but around September, things start getting rainy, moldy, and altogether shitty right about then. There’s no real Fall, since different plants seem to lose leaves at different times, and those varying plant lifecycles also mean there’s no identifiable Spring.***

This actually is a very circuitous introduction to a movie review. You see, although it’s “Summer” here, it was actually more “wintery” this last weekend, with overcast skies and even a bit of drizzling rain yesterday. That meant that Angela and I had to scrap our plans of going to the pool and getting a sunburn, and instead we stayed at home and watched a movie called “The Fall.”

Paul gave the movie to Angela for Christmas, and I guess he explained it to her a bit when she opened it up. I even remember him mentioning it on his blog some time ago, but I guess I was somehow confused, because when we started watching it yesterday, I was under the impression that it was a French movie. It’s not. It IS the type of movie that continually pops into your thoughts for the next few days, though, and that’s why I’m writing about it now.

If you’ve seen the movie, maybe you can post a comment on what you thought about it. If you’ve not seen it, it’s sort of like “The Princess Bride,” if that movie had taken place in a hospital in the 1920s and Fred Savage’s grandpa had been suicidal. Also, this time around, instead of–well, Fred Savage–the protagonist is an adorable 5-year-old girl from Russia or Albania or some other place where people wore scarves. So I guess the two films are not exactly alike, but there are a surprising number of similarities between the two movies–all of which I’m sure more astute and nerdy bloggers have already commented upon.

Still, both contain an underlying theme of convalescence through fantasy storytelling, and that’s worth recognizing. In any case, I’m getting off topic here, and I basically wanted to bring up this discussion of “The Fall” based on my own thoughts and reactions to the movie. I think that no one can argue that “The Fall” is visually stunning. In fact, I had to watch the special features before I even believed that the places where the crew filmed were real. But what else does anyone know about this movie? What is your opinion? Maybe you’ve seen something that awakened a similar feeling in you—whether it be nostalgia, amazement, hate, or whatever. Anyhow, if anyone feels like sharing, please do.

Thanks!

***SEASONAL BONUS!***If you can explain the following conundrum to me, I will consider you a genius. OK, when I started teaching at my present job, I left one class to go teach another one every evening around 5:30. As I walked outside to my second classroom, I often was blessed with amazing views of the sunset. In a period starting in March and ending in July or so, I observed these daily sunsets. The physical point where the sun dipped below the horizon was gradually moving a little bit every day.

Now, it does that in Colorado, too, and as America’s Summer comes into being, the days get longer and the sun sets later every day. That’s normal. However, in Costa Rica, the opposite was the case, and the sun would set a little bit earlier every day. Maybe I was forming my own personal time zone by just drinking WAAAY too much coffee, but that just doesn’t seem right at all. I know that we’re much closer to the equator than in Colorado, but how could this be possible, seeing as we’re still in the northern hemisphere? Anybody got anything?

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Sitzman

Errand-Running Monkey at Sitzblog
Hey! I'm Ryan Sitzman, the person in charge of Sitzblog. If you want to know more about me, you can check out my profile on Google or go to my personal site, RyanSitzman.com. You can also click on any of the redundant little boxes to the left and it should take you to my profiles for all kinds of social networks. Thanks!

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12 thoughts on “Sitzmedia: "The Fall" In The Summer (Or Winter)

  1. Paul,
    I wrote this post before I was able to re-find your review (not having the internet at home sucks balls), but in the meantime, I was able to put up the link.
    In any case, you said in your review that it takes place in 1915, I believe, and you’re probably right.
    Also, you were the first to describe the little girl as “adorable.”
    I think it’s also funny that in both of our reviews, we deferred to “more qualified” (or at least more prolific) reviewers.
    -Ryan

  2. Oh, and a general message to whoever is reading this:
    Thanks for visiting the blog, and especially thanks to those who are visiting the google ad links, doing internet searches, and buying products from the Amazon store.
    Believe it or not, it is helping me, and slowly but surely, it’s helping me pay these internet café bills!
    Please keep it up!
    Thanks again!
    –Sitzman

  3. To answer your question about the sunset and how it’s the opposite for Coast Toasty than it is for Colorado during some parts of the year:

    It all has to do with where the direct sunlight is hitting. Right now in Colorado, the sun is setting a little bit later because the direct sunlight is rising up from the Tropic of Capricorn. In Costa Rica, this same thing should be happening. However, since you live in the tropics, there will come a point when the direct sunlight will be directly at the same latitude as Costa Rica. After this day, the direct sunlight will start moving away from you. As the direct sunlight is hitting the earth north of you, it is hitting the earth south of Colorado, and therefore still getting closer to us, furthermore making our sunsets later and later. This is the time of year when your sunsets are getting earlier while our sunsets are getting later still. As soon as the direct sunlight hits the Tropic of Cancer and starts to head back down south (after the first day of summer) sunsets will become earlier for us and later for you until the point where the direct sunlight hits Costa Rica latitude. At this point we both will experience sunsets that are earlier and earlier…

    Wow…did I confuse you? Just think how confusing it was for Luke growing up on Tatooine…it was a binary system. The quick scene during that part when he’s stressing out about his life and watching the sunsets of the two suns is awesome…good music, too… thanks John Williams!

    ALSO: if I’m wrong, someone please correct me…

  4. Keith,

    There’s a time of year when the direct sunlight is moving further away from Costa Rica but getting closer to Colorado. There’s also a time of year when the direct sunlight is getting closer to Costa Rica but further away from
    Colorado. If the direct sunlight is moving toward you, the sun rises later (more sunlight during the day). If the direct sunlight is moving away from you, the sun rises earlier (less sunlight during the day).

  5. I think I got it… so the tropic of cancer and the tropic of capricorn are like the northern and southern boundaries of where the direct sunlight can hit the earth at any point during the year, and since costa rica is in the middle, then the sun moves north of them at some point, while it never gets as far north as Colorado. Is that right?

    P.S. I just love The Fall. A lot of reviewers said it had no story which I think is total BS.

  6. Dustin,
    I think what you’re saying is kinda making sense, but I’m gonna have to pick up a watermelon and a big lightbulb on the way home to check your math.
    Plus, do you think that the confusion of having two suns was what made Luke such a whiny little sissy in Episode 4?

    Paul,
    How can the reviewers say there’s no story? What the hell is the definition of “story,” then?
    And did you or Di give Angela “Paris, Je T’aime” or however the hell you spell it? We watched that last night. I’ll try to comment soon.

  7. Paul,
    I thought it was probably you cause of the movie-ness. But I thought it might be Di cause of the Frenchy-ness.
    Good stuff. I still gotta write something about it, but I think it might need a re-watch, as well as a couple of viewings of “Coffee and Cigarettes” for comparison before I’m ready.
    -Ryan

  8. Paul, you got it. It all has to do with the fact that Ryan (Sitz) lives in the tropics and we don’t.

    Yeah, Luke probably was treated horribly by his science teachers because he didn’t do well understanding how his solar system worked. This is probably why he gets angy when his uncle makes up clean up droids before supper time.

  9. (In the most whiny little sissy space voice possible): “But I wanted to go to the Tashi Station to pick up some power converterrrs! Wah Wah Wah!”

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