Upstream Color
She shot the wrong guy! – Me
When does a film go from merely boring to cruel and unusual punishment? That question is explored with Shane Carruth’s 2013 work Upstream Color. If you endured his last opus, Primer, you will know that the director enjoys confusing his audience. But where that was mind-bending, Upstream Color is positively mind-numbing.
A woman’s life, Kris (Amy Seimetz), is shattered when she is stun gunned at a club by a man known only as Thief in the credits. He force feeds mysterious worms to her that have mind control properties. During the next several months he tricks her into writing checks to him from her bank accounts. Then he flees with her money. Still tormented by the worms Kris meets the Sampler who de-worms her. There’s an extended montage where we watch the Sampler extracting sounds from nature. He uses this “music” to lure other infected people to his farm. More on the score later. His farm is full of pigs which have some sort of mind meld with humans. Anyways, Kris must now pick up the fragments from her life and begin anew. She gets a new job and meets Jeff – played by the director. Incidentally Carruth cannot act but who’s going to tell him? He‘s also the producer. Kris and Jeff bond over similar backstories, neither of which are very interesting. You see it’s a romance (pause) between 2 very dull people.
There’s something to be said for experimental cinema. If you think the greatest transgression is when a filmmaker doesn’t trust his audience to comprehend what’s going on, you’ll adore this. Upstream Color is a most cryptic story. The problem is that it is an agony to watch. The saga is made even more tortuous by the score, I absolutely hated it. It’s a tedious combination of blaring horns, wind chimes, glass harps and ambient noise. Anyone familiar with “war on terror” tactics will know where I‘m going with this. At first it’s just eerie but over the course of 96 minutes it’s music torture. Interspersed with these sonic blasts are scenes that recount a tale of sorts, often without words. The joy of the picture is the ability to put these puzzle pieces together and understand what the <bleep> is going on. Those who can (which I did) are apparently supposed to sustain a sense of superiority over those who cannot. I did not feel this. What I felt was boredom. The acting is wooden, the conversations are routine, scene compositions are static, cinematography is mundane. If this was a developmental movie from a first year film student, I’d say interesting attempt. Some half formed ideas are addressed but remain unexplored. As a theatrical release, however, it is most unsatisfying experience.
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What my fellow bloggers had to say:
(If you’ve written a review for this film, let me know, and I’ll add you to this list.)
3 Guys 1 Movie
The Cinema Monster
The Code Is Zeek
filmhipster
The Movie Blog
July 17, 2013 at 12:11 am
Nice review Mark. Heard some really positive reviews for this but it does seem the kind of film that will divide people. Intrigued to check it out.
July 17, 2013 at 1:15 am
It does seem to charm what Jake Dobkin at http://gothamist.com/ called an audience of “obsessive hipster film nerds.” I can be one of those at times too. But this was just torture to watch. That score was fingernails on a chalkboard by the end.
July 17, 2013 at 3:55 am
This hasn’t opened here yet, will be keen to take a look. But I like what you say about some films trying to make those who actually understand what is going on feel superior to those who don’t get it. That really puts me off a film when I get that vibe.
July 17, 2013 at 8:26 am
I think I understood most of it but I just didn’t find it interesting. Confusing the viewer works when you have something exciting to say or show. This did not.
July 17, 2013 at 4:13 am
Nice review. I’ve read some pretty split reviews of the film but I’m interested in checking this out. I saw Primer yesterday and enjoyed it.
July 17, 2013 at 8:28 am
I suspect you will enjoy this one too then. I liked Primer more but this is a slightly more polished film.
July 17, 2013 at 4:51 am
Ehh, I loved it. I thought it was beautiful, the story is not that confusing (perhaps the role of the Sampler is), and the chemistry between the two leads is on point.
Well, it’s overwhelmingly positive the reaction to the film — rottentomatoes aggregate is in the 80s….
July 17, 2013 at 8:32 am
All the stuff regarding the pigs was confusing. How they both were united by the worms was just bizarre. Yeah not a fan. Zzzzzzzzzzz.
July 17, 2013 at 8:35 am
Didn’t find that confusing…. The dude used the pigs to access the humans — i.e. via their parasites. See, as someone who reads science fiction I found all of this rather straightforward. Using parasites to control someone is rather obvious…. It was gorgeous and had a strange story and was rather allegorical. Not sure I can ask for more…
July 17, 2013 at 7:45 am
Mark, while I thought it was great your reaction to the film pretty much mirrors what the misses had to say about the film. She actually got angry at me when I claimed that I loved it when we finished watching the film. 😉
July 17, 2013 at 8:37 am
Critical reviews would suggest widespread enjoyment. It’s hard to gauge what most would say because It didn’t even crack half a million dollars in theaters. I suspect if people were forced to watch this you’d see a lot more hate directed toward it.
July 17, 2013 at 10:28 am
would it be a mistake to watch UC before seeing Primer?
July 17, 2013 at 10:35 am
Not at all. Completely unrelated films.
July 17, 2013 at 12:57 pm
Yes, it’s called an INDIE film. They do not make boatloads of cash.
July 17, 2013 at 5:57 pm
Right. I guess that’s why INDIE films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, Juno, The Blair Witch Project, Shakespeare in Love, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Slumdog Millionaire, etc. etc. were such flops. 😉
July 17, 2013 at 6:16 pm
I think you misinterpret my point — this film made plenty for the budget and the actors it contained….
July 29, 2013 at 12:20 am
Jedi, you just can’t get anyone to agree with you – not even your wife! lol. 🙂
July 29, 2013 at 2:30 pm
When she starts agreeing with me I know I’m in trouble lol
July 29, 2013 at 2:48 pm
LOL
July 17, 2013 at 11:04 am
It’s too bad you didn’t like it Mark. I can appreciate how someone wouldn’t though. You’re going to love it or hate it.
July 17, 2013 at 11:44 am
It’s hard for me to understand how someone “enjoys” this. It disregards the basic tenets of story telling. I’m glad you did though.
July 17, 2013 at 12:23 pm
Yup, it pretty much broke all the rules in terms of storytelling that’s for sure.
July 17, 2013 at 12:59 pm
I disagree — wtf are the basic tenets of storytelling? It has a plot, it has characters, it has emotion, it has human interaction, it has allegory, it has hidden meaning…. sounds like a literary short story to me.
July 17, 2013 at 12:59 pm
If you read enough then you encounter stories like this all the time. Even in 60s science fiction…. So yeah, I don’t buy this in the slightest.
July 17, 2013 at 11:50 am
Your review gave me a grave flashback to To the Wonder, where I tried to act interested in what the director was trying to say for an hour, and then started sighing and checking my watch intermittently. Upstream Color looks bizarre. Like bizarre to the point at which David Lynch can’t take it anymore. Glad you were there to take the bullet, and I’m kinda surprised how many loved it to death.
July 17, 2013 at 12:11 pm
Even though I have yet to see To the Wonder, I think that’s an excellent comparison. I do like Malick, Lynch too. Carruth? Not so much.
July 17, 2013 at 12:17 pm
Yeah everything I’ve heard about Carruth makes me wonder if he should be a filmmaker, or some guy who collects Andy Warhol’s pop art and tries to make a story out of it. Primer and Upstream Color both sound like several thousand plot points and strange ideas that don’t tie back together anywhere. At least David Lynch and Terrence Malick make sense.
July 17, 2013 at 12:54 pm
I don’t understand — this film was not that difficult to understand. And LYNCH does NOT make sense. What exactly happens in Mulholland Drive? In Lost Highway? I challenge you!
July 26, 2013 at 12:44 am
I can understand your point of view, but personally I was captivated by it and thought it was good.
July 26, 2013 at 6:10 am
Oh I am definitely the radical in my beliefs. The movie currently holds an 89% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes so your opinion is the popular viewpoint.
July 26, 2013 at 12:29 pm
No your not, look at the imdb rating — 6.8/10… rather low…
July 29, 2013 at 12:21 am
I heard some good things about “Primer” and so I put it on on netflix one day, and turned it off after like 15 minutes it was so dull and boring; and if that was more exciting than this, then I feel your pain! lol.
July 29, 2013 at 7:40 am
Yeah Primer is another difficult watch. I usually give Primer as my stock answer for most confusing film I’ve ever seen.