Up There looked like a quirky, British indie flick and it starred Burn Gorman (Torchwood, Pacific Rim), which was all we needed to decide to give it a watch through on an otherwise empty night. It delivered exactly what we'd expected: it won't be winning any awards but it is well written, well shot and well acted with a pretty unique plot concept which you just wouldn't get in a big-budget release.
The idea is relatively simple but also wonderfully inclusive. The film follows Martin, played by Gorman, as he tries to make his afterlife work out for him. In Up There, when you die there isn't some great transition moment. You just enter an in-between space, still stuck on Earth but not quite a ghost either. Humans can't see the – for want of a better term – astral plane but ghosts can see the living one. Neither can interact with the other, however, which is used to brilliant effect throughout. Ghosts can't phase through walls or levitate/move objects, which means they can get 'stuck'. Need to go through a door? You have to wait for a living person to open it and jump through. End up wedged in someone's car? You're stuck indefinitely. The film never takes this to any extremes, but plays with it well, using it as a plot device to constrain characters when needed. It does make me wonder what happens if a ghost was to, say, get stuck in a car going through a car crusher – can you die twice? I'm also not sure how rain works in this situation...
Certainly, the afterlife isn't all happy fun times. The end goal of everyone stuck in this in-between state is to impress the "management" enough to be promoted "upstairs". Again, Up There steers clear of any overt religious symbology or references, so the "upstairs" could be just about anything from Heaven to reincarnation to simple non-existence. The lack of answers could have been irritating but actually works really well, letting the plot focus on the characters rather than the concepts. Which is a great thing, because it's in the characters that Up There truly shines.
Burn Gorman is excellent throughout, managing to make the slightest facial twitch convey huge amounts of emotion and creating a sombre yet urgent atmosphere that pervades the film and aids the plot no end. He is wonderfully offset by counter part Rash, a hyperactive, loud-mouthed, crude wannabe who is equal parts hilarious and irritating. The dialogue is generally superb, but the interactions of Rash and Martin are extremely clever and expertly balanced in pacing. Whilst the physical acting is brilliant and the direction solid, the script is easily good enough to be ported to radio or stage without any major edits. Indeed, a stage adaptation would be well worth a watch.
Aside from the main leads, the film also included Iain De Caestecker, aka Fitz from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Honestly, I didn't even notice he was in there and have no idea what character he played, but it's pretty cool to get that Doctor Who/Marvel crossover theory going. The rest of the supporting cast ranges from adequate to perfect, with some pretty funny side characters and clever use of British stereotypes and class divisions, even within the communities of the undead.
Overall, Up There is an excellently written, wonderfully acted and incredibly interesting film. The direction is actually much better than I had anticipated and the colour casting of the film is extremely notable for producing a very ethereal feel whilst remaining highly familiar. It's one of the best BBC/UK Film council productions I've seen in a while. The concept is fresh, original and well-executed by all involved so, if you have a TV license, I would definitely recommend watching it whilst it's available in iPlayer!