Up to Mars is a weird, sweaty little movie

You should probably watch this if you have a soft spot for movies that feel like they were filmed in someone's backyard over a single weekend. It is definitely for the crowd that finds clunky practical effects more charming than CGI. If you want a big space epic, you will hate this movie. It is mostly just one guy in a jumpsuit looking stressed.

I am still trying to figure out if Billy Murray knew he was being filmed half the time. He has this very specific way of staring at the ceiling that feels way too real. It is like he is actually worried about his mortgage instead of his rocket ship.

The plot is basically just Billy building stuff. He spends a lot of time with a wrench. There is a scene where he tries to explain how gravity works using a half-eaten apple and some scotch tape. It goes on for about three minutes too long.

The lighting is pretty bad in the indoor scenes. Everything has this yellowish tint like the film was washed in old tea. It reminds me a bit of the weird grit in Night Life. But here, it feels less like a choice and more like they only had one lamp.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Up to Mars (1930) through its definitive frames.

I noticed a dog barking in the distance during a very "serious" monologue about fuel cells. They didn't even try to edit it out. It makes the whole thing feel very personal and small. Like you are just watching your weird neighbor have a breakdown.

The rocket itself is a masterpiece of garbage. You can clearly see the brand name on one of the cardboard boxes they used for the control panel. It is much less professional than the stuff in A Dangerous Adventure. But I think I like it more because of that.

There is a woman who shows up around the thirty-minute mark. I think she is supposed to be his sister or maybe a neighbor. She doesn't have many lines. She mostly just looks at the rocket and then looks at the camera with this "what am I doing here" expression.

The music is just one synthesizer loop. It sounds like a broken doorbell. It plays during the building scenes and the eating scenes. It never stops. It is kind of hypnotic after a while.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Up to Mars (1930) through its definitive frames.

One specific shot lingers on a plate of cold beans for ten seconds. I kept waiting for something to happen. Nothing happened. It was just beans.

It is not exactly a comedy, but I laughed a few times. Especially when Billy tries to put on his "space helmet" which is clearly a painted fishbowl. He looks like he can barely breathe in there. His face gets very red.

The pacing is a mess. It feels like the director forgot to cut the scenes where the actors are just waiting for someone to say "action." You see Billy standing still, blinking, for way too long. It gives it a rhythm that is totally different from anything else I have seen lately.

If you want a movie that moves fast, go watch A Rustic Romeo instead. This movie does not move fast. It crawls. It sits there and breathes on you.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Up to Mars (1930) through its definitive frames.

I liked the ending though. It didn't try to be smart. It just sort of stopped. Most movies try to wrap things up with a big speech, but this one just ends when the sun goes down.

The dialogue is very simple. Billy says things like "It has to work" about five times. He says it to the rocket. He says it to the apple. He even says it to the dog that keeps barking off-screen.

There is a weirdly high amount of dust in every shot. Every time Billy moves, you see little clouds of it floating in the air. It made my nose itch just watching it. It adds to the feeling that this whole world is just falling apart.

I wonder if they had a script or if they just told Billy to act "science-y." He flips a lot of switches that aren't connected to anything. Some of the switches are just drawn on with a marker. It is beautiful in a sad way.

Anyway, it is a short movie. You won't lose much time if you hate it. But you might find yourself thinking about that fishbowl helmet for a week. I know I will.

The whole thing is just very earnest. It doesn't know it is a bit of a disaster. Or maybe it does and it just doesn't care. That is a rare thing to find these days.