Film Review: Odd Fairy Tale of ‘Upside Down’ is Also Inside Out

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CHICAGO – Definitely one of the strangest films so far in 2013 is “Upside Down,” featuring a dream pairing of Kirsten Dunst and Jim Sturgess. The problem is they exist as disparate lovers on opposing planets, with opposite gravitational pulls. Thus what is up for Kirsten is down for Jim, or vice-versa?

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 2.5/5.0
Rating: 2.5/5.0

With an opening prologue that tries to explain it all, it’s best to go with the easy of flow of lovers who are “upside down” from each other. Yes, this is shown on screen in vertigo inducing special effects. The planet that the Dunst character resides on is rich and powerful, which makes handsome Sturgess left with the dregs of the “other” planet. With elements of “Brave New World” and “1984,” there is also a corporation who wants to control this set-up, and only allows downers from Jim’s world to come “up” if they can profit from an invention. There are a lot of hoops to jump through and logic holes to venture into to grasp the story, which is basically a fairy tale featuring star-crossed lovers. The vagueness of it all is the subtracting factor, and the bizarro up-and-down head trip of the film may be a journey that only science fiction nerds can enjoy.

Two worlds, which rotate together, have polar opposite gravity. For example, a look to the sky is to see the other world upside down. The upper world is occupied and controlled by an international corporation, which controls all employment and exploits the lower world by taking its resources. The lower-world boy named Adam (Jim Sturgess) is an adventurer, and climbs to the peaks of his earth to meet with Eden (Kirsten Dunst), even though there are warnings of spontaneous combustion when opposites attract.

They are pursued by the “big brother’ authorities – who want to prevent such couplings – and Eden is injured in the escape. Ten years later, Adam gets an opportunity to work in the upper world, with his main motivation to find and connect with Eden again. Luckily, he has an upper world ally in Bob (Timothy Spall) and Eden just happens to work for the same corporation. Despite their gravitational obstacles, love can prevail.

“Upside Down” has a limited release, including Chicago, on March 15th. See local listings for theaters and show times. Featuring Jim Sturgess, Kirsten Dunst, Timothy Spall and Agnieska Wnorowska. Written and directed by Juan Solanas. Rated “PG-13”

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Upside Down”

Jim Sturgess, Kirsten Dunst
Lovers Adam (Jim Sturgess) and Eden (Kirsten Dunst) Reunite in ‘Upside Down’
Photo credit: Millennium Entertainment

StarContinue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Upside Down”

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