Written and directed by Alex Kruz, Fallen: The Search of A Broken Angel is a feature length drama that stars Christalo Castro and Serena Profaci.

Billed as a modern love story, the film stars Christalo Castro as Sam Ares, a womaniser who is also spiritual and vegetarian. Unnerved by visions that he does not comprehend, Sam is stuck in aimlessness as he finds his life passing by each second. Fate will play its card and Sam meets Kristina, an overly practical meat loving artist who is haunted by visions and dreams of a man she does not know. As this unconventional love story takes root, both Sam and Kristina will realise that the universe works in mysterious ways.

The first thing that caught my eye were the leads. Both Christalo Castro and Serena Profaci are perfect for their roles. Even though they play diametrically opposite characters, this is a match made in heaven. Profaci is beautiful and stunning and her character Serena will turn out to be a handful for Sam, forcing him to confront the errors of his ways. Both the leads dive into their respective characters seamlessly and it is their nuanced and measured performances that are the beating heart of the film.

Secondly, Alex Kruz’s direction is perfect for a film with such big ideas. With themes such as interconnectedness of souls across time and space making up the bedrock of the story, Kruz needed to fit these ideas in a package that audiences could relate to. His creative decision to synthesise this into a love story works well and through the lens of this romantic drama, Kruz introduces big ideas that otherwise would not have worked as well. Kruz also paces the film in a way that it doesn’t drag in the slightest. Each scene has its purpose and there is enough drama to keep the audience hooked for the entire runtime.

However, it is in its visual aspect where the film hits it out of the park. Kruz utilises a plethora of colours to tell the various tonal shades of the story. The existential crisis of our leads spills over into their lives and as they are drawn to each other by unseen forces of nature, there is a subtle change in the visual palette as well. The cinematography is tight, combining a plethora of shots to convey the changing moods of the protagonists. This is a highly complex visual story done right and the fact that it is so moving makes it even more of a rarity.

Fallen: The Search of A Broken Angel is thus a beautiful, different love story that manages to impress in a number of ways. The leads are terrific and there is a clear effort here by its makers to make something unique. Whether they manage to succeed in this regard or not is up to the audience to decide but what is clear is that this is a film that succeeds due to its originality alone. We give the film four stars out of five.