Up/Down

Michael Cooke’s new surrealist afterlife mind-bender, Up/Down, is immensely enjoyable and visually inventive. It follows a character called John (also played by Cooke) who’s seemingly just been in a serious accident and is now in a purgatory-adjacent liminal zone. We follow him through strange rooms, as if an office space lit with neon lights and dictated by physical laws other than our own. Finally, he’s brought to a desk with a man sitting behind it who interrogates him about the value of his life. For reference, this movie takes some of the conceit of Albert Brooks’ Defending Your Life (or, for that matter, Ernst Lubitsch's original inspiration Heaven Can Wait) and combines it with the hypnotic tone of a David Lynch movie.

One could argue that the strongest element of the film is, in fact, its very core concept and setting – or should I say, its *lack* of setting? Cinema is the perfect medium through which to represent a location or space which is abstract in nature. Not only does it take the audience slightly off guard, but it means that we’re drawn to its presentation and workings. When the filmmakers establish the fact that really anything can happen here, it means we as viewers are in uncharted territory; unaware what’s to take place next. It’s then up to said filmmakers to explore this territory, and in Up/Down, Cooke delivers. Camera techniques are also implemented to achieve this. The cinematography’s shallow depth of field is perfect for anything afterlife-related – it's as if the blurring background is not simply out of focus, but formless and fluid as it would be in a fantastical realm.

Earlier I mentioned 1991’s Defending Your Life, as this film – intentionally or otherwise – evokes many aspects of it. And, similar to that movie, what’s so wonderful about this short film is how it almost depicts the afterlife as an experience akin to a job interview. John, our protagonist, is confronted with his lack of conclusion, no positive comments he can make about his life up till this point. But he’s shown a series of colourful clips from his time on Earth which resembles 8mm projection (very Defending Your Life) which is meant to place the whole of his existence into perspective. The persistent angel sat across the desk from him has a playful yet grounded demeanour (not reminiscent of a conventional angel at all), and it’s an aspect like this which makes the whole thing work; it’s our domestic, social, societal world combined seamlessly with the spiritual.

This critic was delighted by Up/Down for its stylish presentation and unusual structure and pacing. Additionally, the minimal yet apt office/afterlife set-design provides the film the perfect balance of reality mixed with fantasy. But most of all, this piece has a clean-cut thematic idea; a concept which is explored just enough to appease all audiences and then ends with a most satisfying conclusory beat. It’s a consistent and well-rounded work, achieving everything it sets out to achieve as a short and sweet tonal exercise set in purgatory. Due to its confidence of direction and its atmospheric construction, this is definitely one to look out for.