Sakasama no Patema (Patema Inverted)
Japan 2013
Written by Yasuhiro Yoshiura
Directed by Yasuhiro Yoshiura
At first glance, the concept of “Patema Inverted” may be reminiscent of “Upside Down”, the SF-romance with Kirsten Dunst and Jim Sturgess, but apart from the idea of reversed gravity, they couldn’t be more different. While “Upside Down” did a decent job of selling the idea of a world standing on its head, I do believe that the concept actually lends itself to animation, which gives you a lot more freedom to pretty much do whatever you want. Something that Yasuhiro Yoshiura uses to great effect. There are many impressive shots, and the way that the movie played with the different perspective of both lead characters was great. The movie looks absolutely incredible; the animation here is so beautiful that you’ll wish that there would be more classic 2D-animation movies instead of one 3D-CGI-fest after another. I also liked how they gave the impression that there really is a camera “on location” filming those scenes, like with raindrops on the lens etc.
But it’s not just the visuals; the story is beautiful and quite touching too. “Patema Inverted” tells what seems to be an impossible love story, with an adolescent girl and boy from different worlds – in the truest sense of the word – falling for each other. It’s helped by some great voice acting and a beautiful score, even though the music can be a little repetitive here and there. What I didn’t like: The main villain is very generic. Despite the fact that I felt quite entertained, for some reason the movie felt longer than it’s less-than-100 minutes, which isn’t the best sign. Maybe that’s due to all those twists and turns. I expected the movie to end multiple times before it finally did. Also: The twist at the end was a little strange. It may have been poetic, but I’m not sure if/how it’s supposed to make any sense. However, the impressive and beautiful visuals, the neat concept, the touching love story as well as a healthy dose of social critisism make this a must-see for every Anime- and/or SF-fan.
7/10