There are fleeting moments in the audio description where I feel like the description is strong. There are moments where I feel like it isn’t making the best choices. And, there are long moments where it seems like there is no audio description.
Upgraded is in many ways a film you’ve already seen. A young woman looking to move up in her field must deal with her difficult boss while working on a huge life changing opportunity and juggling this cute new guy she just met. That is this film in a nutshell. They just change some things around, throw in a couple recognizable actors like Lena Olin and Anthony Head, and you get Upgraded.
But, you also get some really odd choices. There’s a scene where someone is described as wearing Michael Caine glasses. The inherent problem, is referencing a visual element to describe a visual element. Like, “She’s wearing Dior.” Great. that’s good to know. But what does that look like? As someone who walked on the sighted side, “Michael Caine glasses” are not iconic enough for that description. Plus, as an actor, he is often beholden to costume designers. So, his eyewear is based on what he would wear in a film. You would have to be so familiar with him as a person outside of acting to know his glasses. It’s such an inane description.
There’s a scene that totally skips the narrator, a rather pivotal scene where two characters bump into each other and a drink is spilled. I assume the narrator decided not to describe because they mention it a couple of times throughout the film. That’s not the point. As a sighted person, I would be able to see the immediate crash, when was or was not paying attention, and make choices in my head to direct me moving forward with how I continue to enjoy this character dynamic.
Audio description is supposed to bridge a gap, and I just don’t feel like this does that. The main character is latina, but it is never mentioned, because in blind world there is no race. we live in a homogenous raceless world of harmony. At least, that’s why I assume nearly every single audio description dodges diversity. But here, it becomes awkward when later, a minor character makes a reference to our lead that is one of those “as another person of color” jokes. The joke doesn’t land, because no one knows she’s brown. However, sighted people… probably got that joke.
Do better.
The movie is OK, but it’s been done before. I enjoyed it more than not, so I’ll slide this a nice thumbs up, but this is in the bottom tier of my description.
Final Grade: C+
