Up There

Like another reviewer above, I didn't know what to expect of this film. For the first ten minutes or so I was doubtful that it would keep my interest for 80 minutes, as it seemed it could just be a 'one-joke' film. How wrong I was! By the end of the film, as with a good book, I was sorry to say goodbye to the characters - particularly the lead, Martin, played with incredible subtlety and sensitivity of facial expression by Burn Gorman - and had grown to care about them, just as 'Martin' learns genuinely to care about his fellow-ghosts stuck in limbo. Funny, with little digs at 21st century bureaucracy (form filling/tick boxes/targets/I-hear-you counselling)mirroring the world of the so-called 'living' with horrible precision. I liked the almost-not-quite monochrome of the filming, and a lot of the camera work, but the performances were the outstanding thing and the script itself. There have been many films about people who are officially dead speaking and moving amongst the living, from quite serious efforts like 'Ghost' to the zombie film Shaun of the Dead. This is a new take, and one of the best, in my opinion. Funny, though, two German friends of mine saw it tonight also, and didn't get it at all! 'Perhaps it is the British sense of humour?' they enquired, sadly. Yet a German reviewer above gives it 8 out of 10. There's no telling! I recommend it for a gentle, thoughtful and at the end of the day quite moving hour and twenty minutes of cinematic entertainment. Go see!