Have you ever wondered what it would be like if the physics of this earth were turned on its head? What would happen if you fell up instead of down? Patema Inverted uses this as the mind bending circumstance for it’s central premise.
Official synopsis by GKIDS:
Patema lives in an underground world of tunnels, the long-abandoned ruins of a giant industrial complex. Though she is a princess, she is held back by the rules imposed by the elders of her clan. One day when she is exploring in a forbidden zone, she is startled by a strange bat-like creature and tumbles headlong into a void – and out into the wide open world above the surface, a place with reverse physics, where if she let go she would “fall up” into the sky and be lost forever.
Age is a student on this surface world, a totalitarian society whose compliant population has been brainwashed against the “sinners who fell into the sky.” When he spies Patema hanging upside-down from a tree, he pulls her down to safety, struggling with all his might to keep her earthbound as she grips on to him for dear life. Together their weights cancel each other out, and once they master the art of navigating competing gravitational forces, they set out to evade the leaders of Age’s world and discover the secret that keeps their worlds apart.
Starting Friday August 29th through September 2nd, you can catch a screening of Yoshiura Yasuhiro’s Patema Inverted at the IFC in Manhattan. Free limited edition mini posters will be given out for the 11:20am screenings, which is only one incentive for watching the film as this sci-fi adventure flick is one that you’ll never forget.
If you can’t catch the film this week because you’re busy, or more than likely you can’t just hop on your private jet plane to the Big Apple, you’ll be happy to know that Patema Inverted will be screening at selected cities around the US in the coming weeks.
As you can see from the trailer this film will at the very least be a feast for the eyes. The first two shots are simply phenomenal. The one thing I’m not too excited about is the voice over acting which seems to reach into that realm of sound that makes people turn away from English dubbed anime. I, however, am most definitely willing to overcome this particular qualm in order to enjoy this film. A review of Patema Inverted is in the works, so keep an eye out for that.
