| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| randall |
Posted - 07/31/2013 : 18:23:01
It's silly, yes, but it's gorgeous too.
Rom-, uh, Jim Sturgess, and Jul- er, Kirsten Dunst, live on two planets whose gravity opposes each other's, or complements it, or something which is not explained to scientific exactitude in Sturgess's breathy voiceover [he remains pretty awful even when he gets sync sound]. From each person's point of view, the other is upside down on a planet in the sky. She's from the rich Up Above, he's from hardscrabble Down Below. There are ways to cross over, though, and the monolithic Trans World corporation has monetized them, except it doesn't know the secret of the powder from the pink bees, and...aw, forget it.
What sells the picture is jaw-dropping, CGI-aided set design [do they even DO matte paintings any more? Whatever this is, it's dazzling], crammed with information, and the many gags made possible by this simple anti-gravity concept, most of which are so clever that they appear to be happening in camera. The acting is as slight as the script; only Timothy Spall [sporting a *great* Yank accent] really shines, thus serving to illustrate how weak the rest of the company is. Nevertheless, I have to recommend a rental for the visual splendor alone. |
|
|
