Upside Down

A long time ago two planets came so close to each other they are almost touching. Instead of the skyline all its inhabitants see is the terrain of another planet. Each planet has its own gravity laws, with the upper planet being the ruling corporate utopia, drowning in wealth and luxury, sucking out the life of the lower planet, which is plunged into a deep energy crisis.

The people from the two worlds are strictly forbidden to communicate; the punishment of defying this law is death. But they are condemned to a fast demise if they venture into forbidden territory anyway as the laws of gravity of the ‘enemy’ planet will make them burn alive. The premise of Upside Down is indeed a promising one.

The Plot

A boy named Adam (Jim Sturgess) lives on the dark dystopian lower planet. His parents die in a plant blast, so his Aunt Becky is the only source of comfort in his life. 

She treats him to magical flying pancakes, made with the honey from pink bee pollen gathered from the flowers of both worlds (that is later used to develop anti-aging anti-gravity face cream). A girl named Eden (Kirsten Dunst) lives in the opulent ‘heavens’. One day when Adam tosses a paper plane up into the sky, the two meet and become friends, despite the dangers such a friendship entails. That’s the strangest ‘meet cute’ moment in cinema to date.

The young couple meets at the top of the two mountains, having childish, silly fun together. The image of them sharing treats while looking at each other upside down, with the intricate oceans of clouds between them, is something entirely new in terms of cinematic imagery. Adam and Eden can’t be together but they find ways to enjoy each other’s company, which inevitably gets them into trouble when vigilant citizens start shooting at them (how typical) and Adam lets go of the rope Eden hangs on to, which lands her on the ground, with a really bad cut to the head. Adam assumes the worst, living in the darkness for years after.

10 years later Adam is working on a magic cream with his magic pink pollen ingredients. He thinks eden is dead (but it’s his unkempt hair that needs an emergency room resuscitation). Watching TV, he suddenly sees Eden’s face and all his feelings for her rush back to him. She works in the Tower (a nice twist on the unattainable princess up in the air cliché) and suffers from almost total amnesia of their pure love, except for an odd dream-nightmare here and there. Adam is determined to get to her and goes to Transworld where he meets friendly co-worker Bob (Timothy Spall) who collects old stamps from the underworld and is secretly resenting the corporation he works for, ready to exchange cool ‘poor’ stuff for a new upper world jacket for Adam.

Adam’s friends devise a special suit for him, in which he is able to see eden long enough to catch her interest before his flesh begins to burn. Romance is rekindled, followed by a string of disappointments, necessary in any love story to build up tension and bring the audience to a satisfactory ending. I will not reveal the last twist for those who do want to see Upside Down in the movie theatre, but let’s just say that two things are clear from it: 1) the couple find a way to irreversibly join the two worlds, and 2) no – there won’t be a sequel (phew).

Dystopian elements characteristic of the genre make an interesting backdrop for the romantic convections. The classic conflict of the ups and the lows is absolutely literal in Upside Down. The all-powerful corporation’s presence is felt everywhere, and its ant-like subjects are treated like slaves, relegated to infamy once they become irrelevant. The ups own the riches and the latest technologies, impersonated by the gleaming super technical Tower; the lows suffer from an energy crisis, pollution and rampant industrialization, while people commute to work on foot or by bike and live in a world lagging behind technologically. In the most popular cafe, barb wire separates the haves from the have-nots – just in case anyone forgets themselves. Scarcity of resources makes food coupons and a tangible deficit of the absolute necessities everyday reality, exemplified by street children out of a Charles Dickens illustration, begging Adam to build a toy plane for them. 

Because there is no horizon and sky here, all the people see are the reverse version of their own society: the opulent ‘ups’ are always reminded of the miserable plot of the poor; the lows are blinded by the bright lights, glitz and glamour of the upper planet. Propaganda is rampant with Transworld brainwashing proletariat drones into winning work places in the Tower, where a better life awaits them. No world of that kind would survive without militarization, so there are security people at every corner- again, just in case. 

The visuals are at times breathtaking in Upside Down. The up world is filled with sunlight, gorgeously dressed people and immaculate futuristic architecture. The lows live in a black and white world with an occasional pop of the color pink (to indicate the magic of the bee pollen or a child’s bike). The opening scenes of mountainous terrains and surreal cloud seas in between the two planets are a marvel of CGI, fake snow and all. Vibrant blue upside down cocktails are a fun idea and Kirsten Dunst looks her cute self sipping on them against the dark-eyed Jim Sturgess. 

The film is pestered by upside down shots of places and faces, which feel new and fresh at first, but can get a little nauseating by the end  of it, which is not helped by the sometimes cheesy score. The action is slow-moving, inviting the viewer to savour the truly breathtaking visuals.

 The concept of Upside Down is new and exciting with an interesting story and some of the best visuals you can find in any film out there right now but sadly the main characters sometimes feel a little stilted and they lack that chemistry which would really have brought the script to life. Upside Down is a perfect example of the escapism that modern cinema is: perfectly pretty and irreversibly empty.

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