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StatusFinished AiringSeasonFall 2013StudioPurple Cow Studio Japan, Studio RikkaSourceOriginal
Story
Synopsis
Patema lives underground among people whose gravity runs opposite to the surface world, which means that stepping outside would mean falling upward into an endless sky. When she meets Age, a boy from the rigid society above, the two have to hold onto each other constantly just to stay grounded, since each is the other's counterweight. The film uses its gravity premise structurally, repeatedly inverting the frame so that the audience shares the disorientation of not knowing which way is actually down. Every inversion forces the audience to reconsider which direction is actually down.
⚠ Background — may contain spoilers
Written and directed by Yasuhiro Yoshiura, Patema Inverted builds an entire film around a single elegantly executed physical conceit, using camera inversion to make the audience continually reassess perspective. Beneath the spectacle it operates as a fairly direct argument about authoritarian ideology and the arbitrary nature of the categories societies use to define who belongs above and who belongs below. The film earned solid critical reception and remains a frequently recommended example of high-concept anime science fiction executed cleanly. Its political subtext gives the visual gimmick considerably more staying power.
No matter which way you look at it, Patema Inverted is an entertaining and enthralling take on an idea that would normally be too ridiculous to even consider.
Patema Inverted succeeds by refusing to slow down or dig in deep. Gravity defiance pumps new life into a routine tale, and Yasihiro Yoshiura's endearing style and kinetic pace keep it aloft where a weightier, pensive movie would come crashing to the earth.
