Review of Upstream Color (2013) by Mike N — 02 Mar 2014

In two films, Shane Carruth has established himself as the outsider-auteur-extraordinaire, and while Upstream Color lacks the tightness and simplicity that made his debut Primer such an instant classic, its scope and ambition bursts onto the screen, proving a "sophomore slump" isn't inevitable in every case.

Taking on identity as Primer took on time, the film is contemplative, fluid, and replaces the rapid fire, His Girl Friday meets college physics dialogue with meditative montage, telling most of the story in cryptic imagery, and letting the budding romance and dissolution of Kris and Jeff play out with as much attention given it as is given to the pigs, harvested for the insects inside.

As for the pigs? Why bother to explain? Carruth's films aren't made to be explained on some timeline. They're Pollock paintings, ideas scattered across a celluloid canvas, letting the viewer take from this play of interconnecting minds and memories what they will, leaving it to them to decide if the film is, at its core, a love story or a ghost story.

Or some might suggest its both.