Upside Down is a Sci-Fi Love Story, Told in a Topsy Turvy Fashion

Upside Down (2012): Rated “PG-13“ (1 hours, 54 minutes)

Starring: Jim Sturgess, Kirsten Dunst, Timothy Spall, Blu Mankuma, Nicholas Rose

Directed by: Juan Solanas

We have a confession to make; we are a sucker for films with a unique perspective, interesting perspective, intriguing premise, compelling story, great acting, directing, writing or even something visually stimulating. Lucky for us, all of those elements converge in this delightfully engaging film.

When we look up at the night sky, we see stars, the moon, perhaps the light from a planet or two, and maybe a comet. On other worlds the night sky is different. On Adam’s world, when he looks up, he sees a whole other world. No, not just a distant object in the night sky but another world that is so close that you can almost reach out and touch it. When Adam (Sturgess) look up towards the sky he sees cities, forests, and oceans all with their own inverted gravity, and only an arm’s length away from him, yet completely and totally unreachable. This world exists in an alternate reality where a pair of worlds ever circle each other, one above, one below — each world facing the other as they revolve around their sun. This is the extraordinary world of Upside Down.

Adam, although he is a rather ordinary guy, lives — as you can tell — in something of a very extraordinary universe. As a youth, Adam sees a young girl (Eden) from the other world (she is “up” while he is “down”). Years pass but Adam never forgets the girl. The thing about the two worlds is that the societies are segregated by law. The upper world is both prosperous and wealthy while the lower world (Down Below) where Adam lives, is poor. Folks from Up Top buy cheap oil from Down Below and sell electricity back to Down Below at higher prices. As can be expected, any person from Down Below attempting to go Up Top (or having contact with anyone from Up Top) is strictly forbidden and any contact is punishable by incarceration or death.

The things we know about these worlds are the three following, immutable gravitational laws for this two-planet system:

• All matter is pulled by the gravity of the world from which it comes; not the other
• An object’s weight can be offset using matter from the opposite world (matter that is inverse to the polarity of the opposite world)
• After a few hours of contact, any matter that is in contact with inverse matter burns

Hence, while the denizens of each world are compelled to stay to on their respective worlds (and those of Down Below are essentially kept there by their low-class status) citizens from Up Top do take regular trips so as to visit Down Below in order that they can experience the unique novelty of dancing on ceilings and other fun stuff. The only legitimate, legal physical connection between the two worlds is the headquarters of the “TransWorld” company. This is where the floor of the building is one world and the ceiling is the floor of the other. Yes, yes, we know that the physics of this film violate virtually every scientific law known to man, and that the things we are seeing on screen are way beyond impossible, but still, they do so thrill the little kid in us.

The concept of a pair of worlds that are so close that you could potentially toss a football between them, plus the visuals of such a binary “dual gravity” planetary structure is truly mind-mindbogglingly stunning. Still, that is not the entirety of this tale, as there is the love story between Adam and Eden. As their childhood flirtation fades into the past — becoming more of an impossible love as they grow older (and apart) from each other. However, when Adam catches a glimpse of an adult Eden on TV he determines that there is nothing that will come between them and get in the way of their love he decided to get her back...especially not the laws of science.

The film is stunning brilliant, engagingly sweet, and scientifically unsound, still it attracted us right from our first viewing of the trailer all through the way of hunting the film down and through the end credits. This is a fun film to watch, especially as it works its way through its storyline. Soon, the pure joy of the visuals will seduce you into the magic of this film as it did to us. Check it out, we are certain that you will agree with us.