The owners of three lonely hearts look for connections in this arthouse film that’s studded with stars, including Loren Taylor, Victoria Haralabidou, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Jemaine Clement, Robyn Malcolm, Karen O’Leary, Robbie Magasiva and Rachel House. There’s a lot to love about the new local production, but a rom-com this is not.
The desire for connection is at the centre of The Moon is Upside Down. This new local film follows three women all chasing that universal need. Their individual circumstances see them hunting it across international waters, through raunchy internet video calls and even after death.
The movie raises questions but offers no easy solutions. In that way, it mirrors life. The movie’s tragedy is often masked with a wry humour that pulls laughs out of painful situations in the same manner as an overzealous dentist extracting stubborn wisdom teeth.
While romance drives two of its three plots, The Moon is Upside Down is not a rom-com. It’s more of an arthouse dramedy. Its three stories are largely singular, with our heroines’ individual searches only briefly connecting in moments of unburdened acceptance, surreal confusion or the dawning realisation of cold inevitability.
The moon may be upside-down but the film’s heart is on its sleeve. It deals with the emotional circumstances of its characters in a believable but not earnest fashion. The humour is understated in that typical Kiwi fashion that gives most - but not all - of its heavier moments a welcomed light touch without sacrificing mood or impact.
The movie follows Briar, a stressed and extremely busy doctor who has embraced the messy complications of a long-distance relationship with her sister’s ex-boyfriend, her romantic connection built on the shaky foundations of long-shared memories and disappointing sex sessions over Skype.
Also communicating only through devices are empty-nesters Faith and her absent husband. They’ve just added to their property portfolio by purchasing a block of units that, along with the expected chattels like curtains and stoves, also unknowingly included a long-dead pensioner. With no next-of-kin or friends to notify, the depressingly morbid discovery kick-starts something of an existential crisis in Faith, who takes it upon herself to restore dignity to the not-so-freshly departed by properly laying the deceased’s soul to rest.
And finally, there’s Natalia, a Russian mail-order bride who arrives in Aotearoa not with love in her eyes but contentment that her husband-to-be is, at the very least, “kind”. She’s also excited to start work managing the cafe attached to his old-timey petrol station and motor repair shop. It’s only when she’s greeted with a hopelessly cluttered barn and his pipe-dream plans that she begins to realise her new life may not be exactly what was sold to her.
Robyn Malcolm, Jemaine Clement and Victoria Haralabidou star in The Moon Is Upside Down. Photo / Rebecca McMillan
In our hyper-connected world, repeated studies show how disconnected and alone people actually feel. People are closer than ever while paradoxically feeling further apart.
Rather than tackling this wider societal malaise, which would be beyond the scope of a 90-minute film, The Moon is Upside Down zeroes in on romantic connection, or rather, the lack of. Despite the beauty of its cinematography, with the open New Zealand countryside again impressing on-screen, especially when juxtaposed against the blunt concrete jungle of the city, the movie is fairly mercenary in its depictions.
Natalia views her marriage as business, Faith is hoping for redemption and Briar’s sexy Zoom’s are just another item on her daily to-do list - one she’s happy to multi-task her way through. The connection they all desperately want is not available to them in their current situations. It certainly doesn’t help that the men in their lives are either deceitful, hopeless or simply not there.
The balancing act of capturing its unique tone, which manages to be both hopeful and jaded, is a credit to its sharp, honest writing, straightforward direction and consistently wonderful acting.
Fulfilling all three of those duties is Loren Taylor, who stars as Briar and makes her feature debut as sole writer and director, having previously co-written Taika Waititi’s debut feature, the oddball rom-com Eagle vs. Shark. The Russian-born Greek-Australian actress Victoria Haralabidou is revelatory as Natalia, and Aotearoa acting royal Elizabeth Hawthorne carries whole scenes with nothing more than an expression.
Having such strong actors lends the movie believability, even at its most humorous. And while they largely play to type, Clement being all mumbly awkwardness or O’Leary’s deadpan incompetence, they keep their comic performances on the right side of the truth. This is not a sitcom world with canned moments of gravitas or revelation. The care Taylor put into her script and her characters is apparent.
With exceptional performances, a deft tone and universal themes, The Moon is Upside Down is destined to become a film festival favourite. Those looking for blockbuster razzle-dazzle won’t find it here. But those looking for something deeper and more meaningful, well, they’ll find a lot to connect with.
