"Upside Down" sci fi romance film (May 2011) with Jim Strugess

[RoJoHen]

Fantastic.

[Mr. Adventure]

There's been a number of these indie sort of movies with some sci-fi hook. Kirsten was also in Melancholia (and that Outer Limits episode as a precursor), there's Another Earth, Extraterrestrial, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and others I'm forgetting. This one seems to be doing a little more in playing up it's sci-fi angle, though. Kind of reminds me a little of Fire and Ice from Lexx season 3.

[Guy Gardener]

I was totally thinking about those episodes of Lexx while watching it.

Visually what they did is stunning (Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon a little, if also with elements from Westside Story.), but had you stuck a physicist (Sheldon Cooper?) in the audience, his or her head was going to explode like in Scanners.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I admit the first thing I thought of was probably something that is totally not important to the plot. To wit:

Are these worlds just a matter of two planets being extremely close to one another? If so, then they would hardly be visible from each other's surfaces, because the planets would barely 'touch.' Or, conversely, are they essentially FLAT worlds which are always a constant distance away?

[Guy Gardener]

They are very close.

And the planets are fixed in relation to one another.

No rotation.

Buildings from one planet go all the way to the floor of the other planet.

They make up some math with diagrams during the beginning voice over to explain it.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I don't see how it would be possible to regularly cross over from one world to another unless they were both flat.

I mean, you take two spherical planets and place them next to each other, you may end up with a very tiny area where you can move between them, but nothing more than that.

[Guy Gardener]

Unless the cities were, maaaaaaasive pontoon cities which floated on the ocean and moved as the planets moved?

It's REALLY bad fake science.

[Agent Richard07]

I was going to ask what this world was because the opening narration doesn't adequately explain things and it's not obvious that it's two planets in close proximity. It's more fantasy than scifi anyway because there are other unusual physical laws that are only there to serve the plot. In any case, I'm not complaining. It's a visually stunning movie with a nice soundtrack and the concept is pretty creative. It's worth checking out.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Perhaps these worlds aren't literally right next to each other, but there's some weird space warp which always connects the two.

I mean, if there were two planets which actually were this close together, the gravitational forces would tear them both apart...

[Agent Richard07]

Mr. Adventure wrote:

---

There's been a number of these indie sort of movies with some sci-fi hook. Kirsten was also in Melancholia (and that Outer Limits episode as a precursor), there's Another Earth, Extraterrestrial, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and others I'm forgetting.

Safety Not Guaranteed. That's a must-see for any scifi fan.

[RoJoHen]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

---

Perhaps these worlds aren't literally right next to each other, but there's some weird space warp which always connects the two.

I mean, if there were two planets which actually were this close together, the gravitational forces would tear them both apart...

Maybe it's just better not to think about it.

[JD]

Agent Richard07 wrote:

---

Safety Not Guaranteed. That's a must-see for any scifi fan.

I just added that one to my Netflix queue a few days ago.

[stj]

Mr. Adventure wrote:

---

There's been a number of these indie sort of movies with some sci-fi hook. Kirsten was also in Melancholia (and that Outer Limits episode as a precursor), there's Another Earth, Extraterrestrial, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and others I'm forgetting. This one seems to be doing a little more in playing up it's sci-fi angle, though. Kind of reminds me a little of Fire and Ice from Lexx season 3.

The Sound of Her Voice, time travel. Written and starring Brit Marling if I remember correctly.

Also, Robot & Frank.

Also, Never Let me go, clones.

Looper, time travel, is borderline, being made and bugeted like an indie but marketed as a mainstream action flick.

SF without spaceships have been occasionally sneaking into movies for quite some time.

SF plot devices have been a staple of many movies, but the verisimilitude they aimed at has confused the deep thinkers who can't tell the difference between fantasy and SF and realism.
The first half of the recent Side Effects was straightforward SF in many ways, til it relieved the tension by turning into a thriller.

[CaptainWacky]

Guy Gardener wrote:

---

I've had this movie on my hard drive for at least a month.

March 15 you say?

Half way through, I'm enjoying it, but I figured it all out about 2 seconds after seeing Kirsten.

It's obvious.

Like that old Twilight Zone about the silent film star who can't stand her overwhelming irrelevance.

(Or Sunset Boulevard.)

But Kirsten was in private crying about how old and unloved she was.

Really giving it to her pillow.

The slight wee blonde thing tried to clear her brain and calculate when exactly was the last time she felt like god at the top of her field who no asshole would contend against?

Gears crunching.

Obviously it was when Toby was kissing her upside down in the first Spider-Man movie.

Every moment of her celebrity since that exact moment had been a little less shinier.

She had to turn back time.

Kirsten wishes that only if there was someway that she could devise a movie where it was nothing but some guy kissing her upside down all the time.

If only that was possible?

But that would be ridiculous.

This is going in my "best of Guy Gardener" file.

[jefferiestubes8]

a review is up
Review: Spectacular Inverted Indie Sci-Fi Romance in 'Upside Down'

The fact that it was even envisioned, made, pulled off, and delivered (all outside of the Hollywood system, mind you) in such epic grandeur, with glorious sets, is why I couldn't help but admire every last second of this sci-fi. When did we stop appreciating cinematic spectacle?

I didn't even go to any press screenings, I paid to see this film twice in theaters,

I loved that everything and every idea you would ever want them to play with in a dual gravity world, they explore.

It works so much better in context, because the sci-fi world is so immaculately conceived with an unexpected attention to sci-fi detail.

The sets were crafted by Alex McDowell, production designer on Minority Report, Zack Snyder's Watchmen and Man of Steel, and they look exceptional

While any review that mentions the cinematography a lot is usually code for a bad film this one talks about the sci-fi world building including the production design & art direction to create it and the sci-fi aspect of it which I really love and it wasn't even a scifi website but a regular movie website. There are comparisons with Andrew Niccol's Gattaca (1997).
About the director on Upside Down's story:

he has all the various pieces of a sci-fi classic, but had trouble pulling them all together to tell a fully cohesive and emotionally enlightening story. There's more emotion in the visuals and concept than the love story at the center of the film, but I felt like he balanced it precariously enough to keep me from getting frustrated.

They made me believe in this place, get lost on these two worlds where I've never been, but wanted to spend time exploring. To me, that's what great sci-fi is about - crafting an extraordinary world and telling a worthy story in it, even if it's not the best story.

In the USA March 15 limited theatrical release.
This Spring in European countries.