Upside Down from Millennium Entertainment, Presented by West Coast Midnight Run

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UPSIDE DOWN
Millennium Entertainment
MPAA Rating PG-13
(Romance, science fiction, fantasy)

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Jim Sturgess
Co-starring: Timothy Spall, Jayne Heitmeyer, Neil Napier

Directed by: Juan Diego Solanas
Cinematography: Pierre Gil

Running Time: 1 hr. 47 min.
Score: B+

By Heather Watkins

Upside Down is a movie that attempts to portray the human condition in a far away solar system where the alien intelligent life living on another planet is the same species as its next door neighbor, just marooned in an upside down, topsy turvy insane world, where social class and wealth and not just forces of nature are the great divide.

Original source photo © 2013 Millennium Entertainment

Upside Down is a beautiful romantic movie starring Dunst as Eden and Sturgess as Adam, with a convoluted plot that brings together elements of Romeo and Juliet in a fantastic setting that defies gravity and belief.

If you are willing to suspend real world notions of gravitational forces that would tear apart two massive bodies spinning around in the vacuum of space at such proximity that the atmosphere of one planet touches the other yet there are no cataclysms or magnetic storms or oceanic “hydraulic jumps” that would cause an epic scale disaster, then you would probably be able to enjoy this movie as a Disney

style fantasy in the same tradition as Snow White, only this romantic adventure has elements of Apartheid woven into the plot along with some incredibly beautiful cinematography that is constantly tugging and dazzling the viewer in each shot and frame.

Upside Down has some truly amusing moments and there is strong character development making the romantic issue between the leads more palatable, yet the premise is so fantastic, that both leads have a difficult time pulling the audience into their world.

One one hand this fantasy film portrays the modern world with realism and grit

and on the other hand, the characters falling in love with each other and their perilous journey towards finding one another is steeped in almost childishly naive fantasy, straining the audience with opposite dramatic styles.

Upside Down is a fairytale romance that wants the audience to believe it is a realistic commentary and critique of the corporate world, industrialization, globalism, Not in My Backyard, and social taboos - if there are any left in the world today outside of artificial reserves and vending machines.

All of the supporting cast do a great job in lending realism to the story.

The movie could be critiqued as an immaculately polished eye candy, yet the director and writer, Mr. Solanas, also load up the plot with several emotional mines for the audience designed to set up the viewer for a tear jerker as the film reel unspools its final scenes on the screen.

Upside Down is essentially a quest movie, a young man on a quest adventure, seeking to slay the dragon.

Only the dragon in this film is his other half, the beautiful Eden and Adam’s drive to reunite with essentially his soulmate so as to make himself whole.

By conjuring up an improbably absurd and fantastic world in a purported science fiction setting, it’s possible that Solanas is also pocking fun at insane Big Science, such as the search for the Boson “God” particle and the search for intelligent life outside our solar system.

We’ll never know the original intent of Solanas and the production team since by now the critics have already shot plenty of holes in his film and any interview he would be featured in could claim any number of motives in defense of his costly, extremely beautiful and intriguing cinematic project.

Upside Down was partly filmed in

Canada and has been, for the most part, poorly received by critics.

This film is by no means an instant classic or a great movie to ponder philosophical issues with, however it is one of a small number of productions this year that is absent of crude language, gratuitous gore and violence and many other qualities plaguing many big features.

A simple romantic adventure film tangled in a web of extraordinary settings, Upside Down is by no means as paltry or lacking in entertainment value as many of its critics would like you to believe.