Amy Seimetz
Shane Carruth
Andrew Sensenig
Thiago Martins

Shane Carruth

96 mins.
Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
April 5, 2013

Not Rated

The opening 30 minutes or so of “Upstream Color” are its best. The build-up to and execution of the hypnosis/worm-drugging and robbery of the lead female (played by Amy Seimetz) is masterful. I’ll try, again try, to elaborate on that a little later. But this film’s lack of clarity works well in those moments; it puts you on edge.

However, once the lead female meets the lead male (played by Shane Carruth) and they develop a relationship, the lack of clarity isn’t as useful. As a result, this film’s no longer as effortless to watch. That’s not because it becomes more confusing – it started off that way. It just loses some of its power somehow.

“Upstream Color” is about the nature of free will within an interconnected environment. It deals with how people in a relationship find each other, merge, and subsequently lose track of time and of their individuality. In the end, hopefully, they find themselves again and set themselves free in the process. This is an abstract representation of the life cycle in a harsh and unsympathetic world. Each of us plays certain roles that have been played before. Those roles have been passed down to us: The guy who robs and drugs the woman, for instance, passes his expertise to someone else … unfortunately.

If you can’t tell already, this is wild stuff: At certain times, “Upstream Color” shifts from parasites (roundworms) to animals (pigs) to humans, who are the observers: There’s a pig farmer/musician/sound-recorder who can apparently sense each of the thief’s victims and see each victim in some way via his proximity to a pig that shares the same worm-parasite as that victim. Furthermore, there are those who manipulate (the thief/hypnotist/druggist) and those who live under some sort of control (the couple and their fellow victims). Now, this is just my sense of the story. This is as clear as I can make it. Each viewer will likely perceive things slightly differently depending on who that viewer is.

“Upstream Color” flows along as a stream does, but that flow is chopped-up with jump cuts, match cuts, non-linear editing, and, at times, time-lapse photography. Also, the sounds in this film play an integral role; they can lull you to sleep or shock you awake. Those sounds are linked to the characters’ inner lives.

This is a great display of Carruth’s many filmmaking talents. He has seemingly mastered the complete filmmaking textbook. But the beauty that he achieved during the beginning of this film isn’t consistent during the rest of the film. He’s been favorably compared to Terence Malick by many fawning critics, and that makes sense. But Malick knows how to maintain beauty and power, whether you like his films or not. Carruth is relatively young, so he may learn to do the same thing.

“Upstream Color” certainly is not for everyone. It’s indescribable. But if you like Malick, then this may be worth a watch.

Verdict: Good to Somewhat Good, Overall

About: (Source: Press Kit at upstreamcolor)

A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the lifecycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.