Patema Inverted / Sakasama no Patema
NO LONGER AVAILABLE
An ingenious animated feature about a post-apocalyptic Earth in which the surviving population has split into two societies which are subject to opposing gravitational forces! Patema, the daughter of the dead Chief, is an adventurous teenager who frets at living in her underground world. Falling down an abandoned shaft, she emerges on the edge of an impressive city and meets a schoolboy, Age, who helps her when his society’s sadistic dictator hunts her down as a dangerous ‘invert’: a thought-criminal and ‘sinner’, just like others who have tried to escape into the sky. Attracted, but inescapably pulled in opposite directions by the two gravitational fields, Patema and Age work together to uncover the truth about the Earth’s predicament.
This is a beautifully drawn and appealingly scripted tale of youthful optimists battling a cruel world – slyly modelled on the utopian architecture of the 20th century’s concrete modernists, particularly Le Corbusier – where advanced technology is allied to crude thought-control.
“Patema Inverted is a really enjoyable film. The film is brilliantly animated with some stunning surreal perspectives. With a fine blend of comedy, ripping yarn and underplayed teen romance it is really quite appealing. It certainly has its darker moments as it looks at the suppression of ideas and the political use of prejudice and the irrational fear of the other.” - Donald Munro, Eye For Film.
”…from the texture of the underground havens to the idea that our leads have to – literally – cling to each other lest gravity tears them apart, it’s a wonder of detail and ingenuity.” - Kevin Harley, Total Film.
Screening as part of Japan 2021: 100 years of Japanese Cinema, a UK-wide film season supported by National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network. bfijapan.co.uk
