Altitude Falling (2010)

If you, like Paul Bright, are turned on by the sight of middle-aged Paul Bright strutting naked, with everything flopping free, before a boy he's just met, young enough to be his grandson... and a few minutes later the two of them making out naked (both of them, this time) in bed (obviously the strutting worked its irresistibly sexy magic - but he IS the director, after all, AND the writer), then this is the movie you've been waiting for.I've forced myself to watch Bright's first four movies because his relentless determination to make them despite huge obstacles fascinated me, but this is the last. He has no talent. A monster ego, but not one drop of talent anywhere.Low budgets have nothing to do with it. Masterpieces have been made for a fraction of what a Bright movie costs to make - Shane Carruth made Primer for $5000, but Carruth has talent and Bright has none. Bright's movies do nothing but aggressively and artlessly push his absurdly narcissistic self-image and his nauseating libertarian fantasies of legalized drugs and uninhibited man-boy naked LOVE triumphing over diabolical government oppression and violent religious lunatics. They're extremely tiresome, like being harangued by an old, naked hippie.The fundamental requirement of ANY movie is that it be entertaining. Bright's movies obviously entertain him enormously, but they only irritate, bore and repulse me. In a DVD extra for his 2007 movie Theft, Bright said anybody who writes a negative review of his movies is "a bitter queen with an axe to grind". I guess that's me. I'd rather BE a bitter queen than watch another minute of his talentless egomaniacal crap.

I hadn't read any reviews prior to watching it, so I had no expectations to start with.However, if you care for your faith in the human race and do not want to needlessly torture yourself with horrible gay grandfather fetish science-fiction, just watch something else. Why? Oh boy...The STORY if you can even call it that... is of a communist USA (still pretending to be democratic and have a president though) in the year 2029. People go around with chips in their arms, and those who have them removed are outlaws. I'm not sure why the theme sounds extremely familiar.The ACTING... eek. I'd be more believable telling my math teacher that the dog ate my homework for the 20th day in a row. As a highlight, check out the part when Mom and Gran find out Greg's in town. So. Many. Emotions!The DIRECTING... where do I even start? Half of the movie consists of people biking (Greg even does a splendid double-take!) or looking around. I especially liked the part where Greg and Danny stay in bed for 2 minutes.GREG deserves a separate section on his own, for being absolutely the most obnoxious. For one, he goes after his best friend Michael's son. Michael has absolutely no problem with it, by the way (USA, I pity you...). Morals aside, he's just as bad as actor, writer or director. All he did was write himself in a lot of naked scenes with a 20-year-old. If he craves "fresh meat", I'd recommend a different film-making industry. As it is, it's just disgusting. Yes, love transcends, but this is too much.How many people live in that... "town"(?). We see a grand total of SEVEN. Add two working at the train station and one moving boxes, but that still leaves us with less than twenty. I get it that it's low- budget, but they could at least invite their cousins or sisters to walk around in the background.What's the title even about? Ice melting and seawater rising? Really? What does that have to do with... never mind. Baffling? Wait until you hear Gran say something like "We don't own a spade, so we can't have a garden." I used to say "Shut Up and Kiss Me" was pathetic, but after watching "Altitude Falling", I have to admit I was wrong.On its own, the movie is not original in the slightest. Watch 1984 (future societies gone wrong), Milk (age difference), Gattaca (implanted chips/population control), Naked Boys Singing (unabashed nudity) or House of Wax (deserted towns with strange people). Your neurons will be grateful for not sentencing them to death.

It's hard to do low-budget sci-fi. And when I talk low budget, I am talking about an eight day shooting schedule and very small cast (basically, five main players and a small handful of extras). Plus making a premise that doesn't collapse under it's own weight. "Altitude Falling," a modestly created look at the near future, pulls it off, and is director Paul Bright's best film to date.To summate, it's a decade or so into the future. There's a deep recession going on, and an inexplicable war in Venezuela. People have been implanted with tracking chips, which started out as innocent ways to identify and locate people in case of serious emergencies, like accidents or natural disasters. But now the mere act of entering a mini-market ID's you and offers you a targeted special sale item. It also means that, as the war escalates, the government can find you if they need you.The five lives interconnected here are all tied to the chips and how they evolved. Greg Forrster (Bright) has fled his old life to take residence in New Mexico, and Danny's family has come to escape their unemployed status after tidal surges have destroyed their home (the consequences of global warming are where the movie's title come from). One of the more intriguing aspects of "Altitude Falling" is just how easily this future could occur, without any whizz-bang gizmos or vacuously expensive "Avatar" effects. The fiction is subtle, but realistic. "Altitude Falling" is a provocative and enjoyable film.

The entire gay theme detracted from what could have been a good story.The entire concept of chips in bodies was good and the basic story had potential...but the gay love story just trashed it...well that and the horrible music.The music and production values were just atrocious and that made the story and film just a hideous piece of cinema to watch.Add to that a gay love story which didn't quite fit in and some unbelievably horrible dialogue and flat characters and you have this...something which will go nowhere.Not trashing gay love stories...there are some which I find awesome - even though I am not gay...they are interesting and have character and story. This just kills the entire structure.Maybe it was to get financing for the movie - to seed money from the gay arts vaults - well that;s OK...but the story was bad and the actors were even worse.The script was horrible and of course, the music was downright nasty in all respects.It failed on so many levels with a concept that had plenty of potential - even for a small budget.