Review of Upstream Color (2013) by Shawn E — 24 Apr 2013

I don't know where to even begin in describing Upstream Color.

I won't even try to describe the plot except it involves psychedelic larvae, mind control, telepathy, reincarnation and the natural transcendentalism of Thoreau.

It is definitely art house, starring, written, produced, directed, edited and scored by Shane Carruth. His previous and first film was the low-budget time-travel indie "Primer" which I loved and consider one the best indie sci-fi films ever made. I don't think Carruth will ever have mainstream appeal as a filmmaker nor do I think he cares. That he took years to develop the project and control every element of it himself tells me the film is a work of lasting art, not entertainment designed to maximize investor returns.

Upstream Color is enigmatic, described by one critic as spiritual Impressionism. Maybe it's not meant to be understood the first time around but as a puzzle to be unwrapped layer by layer years later like Kubrick or Kurosawa.

The plot and dialogue are minimal and nonlinear. There are some brief scenes that seem non-sequitor and hallucinatory, but still unsettling, like seeing someone in the room but you wonder why others don't see him or is that because YOU are hallucinating? This is pulled off with no "verite" tricks like Blair Witch/Paranormal Activity or any flashy special effects. This is the mark of a resourceful film editor, like Darrenofsky's "Pi" or Lynch's "Eraserhead" with a sense of the macabre.

The audience must figure out what invisible force is controlling someone. Maybe this is the disturbing experience of living with someone who is struggling with addiction or mental illness; you have no idea what they will do next or why they are doing something for no reason.

Carruth's editing is tight, the cinematography sharp; each type of landscape has a distinct chromatic patina. The composition of the scenes are spare and isolating, creating that sense of alienated, confused souls in a vast universe. The score has that modernist, ambient, Brian Eno tone, hypnotic, haunting, timeless, where society and rules mean nothing.

The film may presage the coming age of mind-machine interface, the digitization of stream of consciousness, of hive-mind, emergent Gestalt intelligence. Maybe movies in the future will directly plug us into the sensations and emotions of another mind.