Review: Fall dead! (2009)

Director: Arne Toonen | 10 minutes | drama, comedy, short film | Actors: Bert Luppes, Waldemar Torenstra, Micha Hulshof, Marjolein Ley, Eva Duijvestein

You will get it as a gift: a parachute jump! Look, that’s something different from a CD or a book you actually didn’t ask for. The birthday boy in this film, Fons, is not at all happy with it, but his younger girlfriend thinks it’s a bit tough, so he reluctantly signs a contract in advance. “Oh, that’s for liability, if something goes wrong,” says Mike. the smooth instructor nonchalant. Once on the plane, Fons is hitched to Mike. When the plane cannot start, because a car suddenly hits the runway, Mike is shocked to see his wife Chantal get out. She tells him that their relationship is over and that she is leaving him. “Drop dead!” she still calls after him. Mike is desperate, but when Fons sees his chance to get out of his birthday present, and offers to jump another time, Mike claims “I’m fine”. Then something happens that changes Mike’s mind and he decides to literally follow Chantal’s curse. Fons is terrified during the jump. How will this end?

‘Fall dead’ is a short and humorous film by Arne Toonen. Luuk van Bemmelen wrote the screenplay and Hazazah Film produced. Because of the absurd situation – the direct confrontation with the instructor’s private concerns – the protagonist, with whom you immediately sympathize, because it is so obvious that he does not want to at all, moves from one plight to another. In a way, “Fall looks dead!” on Tallulah H. Schwab’s ‘The Driving Test’ (from the KORT! 2005 series), in which a driving instructor also does not manage to keep his private life separate from his work, with all the consequences for the lady who is leaving. Despite the exaggerated situations, the whole thing comes across as credible, thanks to the cast and the natural dialogues. After seeing ‘Fall dead’ you will think three times before throwing such a curse at someone’s head.