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Directed and written by Steve Carruth, the [in]famous writer of Primer, who filmed one of the most intellectually challenging time travel films ever made on only a 7k budget. And that was made ten years ago. After struggling to get financing for his next film A Topiary, a 240 page Sci-Fi with flying dragons and machines, he gave up and started working on his next, cheaper film, Upstream Color.
The plot is very ambitious and vague but I'll try and sum up it up. A thief, who's just created some kind of worm that can brainwash people, finds Kris (Amy Seimetz), who's some kind of abstract film editor, and kidnaps her then robs her of her life savings.
As the thief leaves her to presumably just rot away, she finds the worm swimming in her body and tries to cut it out. When that fails, she stumbles into the woods where she finds some kind of Pig Farmer that has a connection to the dead and loves to record random noises in the forest. As he finds her, he takes her to a surgical table and injects pig blood or something into her as we --
-- shift to a few weeks later where she finds herself in her car in the middle of nowhere, struggling to remember anything about what has happened in the past month. Later on, she discovers she's lost(?) her job since she hasn't turned up and has about a million other problems which I cannot decipher. As she goes on a trainride to her new workplace, she meets this shady guy named Jeff (Shane Carruth), as he tries to tune her up.
You may think that was all useless information but the story basically starts from that point. I think?
Technically excellent, brilliantly shot, a mediocre story but well-crafted. There's a lot to be loved here if you take it for what it is. One of the best scores for any film I've seen this year, surprised at how atmospheric the it all was. Confusing yes, but not a fault IMO. Maybe a little too far out there but still very enjoyable.
The film isn't for everyone, and you'd be wrong to think it was. It's a hard one to recommend because of its style. I think it struggles to make itself so serious that you honestly don't know what tone the film was trying to achieve. People have labelled this as a Sci-fi, drama and thriller and honestly, I have no clue what it was.
Even with its faults, the film stayed with me after I'd finished it, and I couldn't help but think about it, which IMO, is a sign of a great film. If you honestly go into the theatre, hoping for a cerebral arthouse film, you'll be pleasantly surprised -- but if you go into the film convinced this is the next Inception, you'll hang yourself when you get home. I think this is in my top three from all the films I've seen in 2013, an impressive piece of work.
But only one question remains. Would this film have had rave reviews if it was Carruth's first film?
What if you knew someone so intimately, longed for them as if they were dead, but sitting right across from you? Knew their darkest secrets, but never met them before. Felt the experience of having your children taken away from you and murdered, but never had any. Yeah, it's that kind of film.
It starts with a brilliant concept of hypnosis, Mother Nature's miraculous nightmare. Along comes an everyday thief who perverts its effects in such a horrendous way. It's tragic to watch as his victim, Kris, lose virtually everything she has.
We are then introduced to an even greater kind of evil, I'll call him "The Pig Shepard", whom has an itch for playing God through an auditory science experiment. The experiment is a success, but what are the consequences of his madness?
By the film's halfway mark, Kris is released back into the wild. This is where Jeff comes in. The two are drawn together, but are seemingly repulsed by each other. This is where we begin to piece together the mystery while plunging further into sensory abstraction.
I downloaded the score as soon as I finished. It absolutely plays a key role in helping one digest the constant shuffle of the the deck. And I'll play at this dealer's table again.
Basically peerless. A strange midpoint between Kubrick and Malick that's all its own. If you can get this one out of your head after watching, I'm darn impressed. It'll be interesting to see if Carruth moves more towards Kubrick or more towards Malick as he gets older.
After struggling to get financing for his next film A Topiary, a 240 page Sci-Fi with flying dragons and machines, he gave up and started working on his next, cheaper film, Upstream Color.
...finds Kris (Amy Seimetz), who's some kind of abstract film editor...
I should probably edit my review, really feels like I'm taking the piss. After sitting on it, this is genuinely the best film I've seen all year, just massive respect to Carruth for attempting this project. I've always wanted to read the monster of a script A Topiary but I've been putting it off since forever.
It's interesting reading the new wiki synopsis, it actually makes a lot of sense and some of the almost random scenes actually did have a some kind of meaning. It's just a beautiful film that shows you don't need a 20 million budget to create an amazing film. I think he shot this on a DSLR.
Caught this a couple weeks ago. Probably need to watch it again. I think it sorta went over my head. It definitely made an impact though. I think I felt everything one could feel watching this film (both the positive and negative) at least once.
I think for sure, Carruth knows what he's doing whether or not he gets everyone in on it. I also thought it was immensely better than Primer and introduced a lot of new elements that were absent or deficient in that film. I'd be interested to see what his next film is like.
Still, I didn't love this one. Not sure what I felt about it to be honest. I don't think I could pin down one distinct emotion. I'll probably give it a second look though (when I muster up the patience).
What really resonated with me about it, which I believe was the theme, was acceptance. Jeff was quirky and creepy with his first encounter with Kris, but he was compelled to be with her. Kris was appalled by him for no apparent reason. Upon entering her place for the first time, it was clear that they knew everything about each other in a deeper, spiritual realm.
Their love for each other was based solely on acceptance for one another. There was a subliminal symmetry to the entire film that kept me clinging onto it. The bag of piglets was what really sealed the deal for me. Kris and Jeff's reaction to their "children" being murdered I have no words for.
That's what I took away from it. I respect the effort, even when it felt absurd and unbelievable.
I was actually listening to [only] Carruth's soundtrack while writing Float, not totally inspired by the film but I was aiming at a similar cerebral feel. Float was mostly inspired by A Scanner Darkly though, where I felt P. Dick didn't explore his world or scenario enough, so I wanted to write my own version of the aftermath of druggie dystopia in the nearby future. I was actually going to expand the story into a feature but not many people were interested in the idea so I decided to scrap it - for now...
I really hope this isn't the case. Donnie Darko was chalked up by some people as just luck but I feel as if Primer was anything but. He's funding his new movie himself called "A Modern Ocean", which apparently features pirates and something to do with ship course charting - so we'll just have to wait for that and see how it goes. Again, I do hope he doesn't crash and burn.
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Upstream Color - 2013
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I should probably edit my review, really feels like I'm taking the piss. After sitting on it, this is genuinely the best film I've seen all year, just massive respect to Carruth for attempting this project. I've always wanted to read the monster of a script A Topiary but I've been putting it off since forever.
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