There is a film floating around the net called "Upside Down" which was filmed in Canada by some sort of foreign consortium and then held back, even though it was supposed to be released in 2011/2012. It is extraordinary. Some call it an "existentialist love story," which was a bit confusing at first since I did not realize that there is actually a class of films called "existentialist" but if you check the IMDb, there is. And, this is amazing, there are actually "lists" of the best "existentialist" films ever made, and they include titles like the Matrix...! Also confusing because, if you think about it, every love story ever written or filmed has existentialist underpinnings, so upon reflection I think calling this particular film "existentialist" is a red herring. So back to Upside Down. It is extraordinary, The concept is unique, something that cannot be said of 99.9% of the scripts today, and the cinematography is both breath-taking and haunting. It also comes close to being one of the greatest love stories of all time, and here it is the "almost" that is telling ... now in my view, the greatest love story ever filmed is HERE COMES MR. JORDAN (the original, not the two remakes). There is a particular scene that takes place during a temporary power outage which is literally unforgettable, if you have ever seen the film. And if you have not, you should. The scene is less than two minutes in total but movie-goers who saw the film 70 years ago (!) can discuss that specific scene with you as if it were yesterday. It is literally burned into their memory. Not a claim many movies can make today. Which brings us back to Upside Down, a classic case of "almost" film-making. For the first hour of this picture, you have a unique one-of--a-kind movie that is on par with the best of the best ever made. It meets or exceeds all known standards for original script, original story, original cinematography, etc. And, then, about 70 minutes in, it is as if the producer either ran out of money, or the writer ran out of coffee. Or both. And morphs not only into one of the most disappointing endings I have ever seen but -- an odd form of hubris -- the voice-over first-person narration actually apologizes to the viewer for this in plain English, saying, I am not making this up, that "what happens next is a story for another time," ...I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that to recommend a movie where we know in advance that the last 20 minutes sucks, the first 70 minutes would have to be extra-ordinary to compensate....? And that is the point. They are. Amazing film. Highly recommended. A must-see.
Review of Upside Down
