Film Review: Shane Carruth Challenges Perception with ‘Upstream Color’

Submitted by BrianTT on April 11, 2013 - 8:52am

CHICAGO – Can a film be more poetry than prose? We’ve certainly seen masterpieces that defy easy plot recap like Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” and David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive” but Shane Carruth takes the concept a step further with his daring, mesmerizing “Upstream Color,” a work of art that will infuriate as many as it enraptures. Blending “Walden,” science fiction, romance, and issues of control vs. free will, “Upstream Color” is like a classical composition with themes that repeat but no actual lyrics. It’s a film that I wouldn’t blame anyone for hating. However, I can’t wait to talk about it with those who love it like I do.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

“Upstream Color” opens with a series of confusing images that set a tone before we’ve even met the lead characters. A man carries papers that have been crafted into strands that look like DNA. He throws them in a bin with a recycling logo. We see bicycle wheels spin, a steering wheel, and the visual motif of circles has been set. It will repeat throughout the film, one that is undeniably about connections and circles of life even though there will be disagreement and discussion as to what, if anything, it says about those connections and circles.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Upstream Color” in our reviews section.

The mysterious man (Thiago Martins) from the opening scenes has developed something breathtaking. He can control others. It is first seen in a series of sequences with a pair of teens who can first mimic each other’s actions with their eyes closed and then in a fight in which each seems to know the other’s movement before it happens. While this discovery of mind control might seem at first to lead to a science fiction thriller, don’t ever try and get ahead of “Upstream Color.” Don’t try and “figure out where it’s going.” Just go with it.

The man who knows how to control others kidnaps Kris (the captivating Amy Seimetz), a girl who seems to have it together before her life is torn apart by a power behind her control (yes, you can start to read themes of faith, religion, and fate into the narrative). The man plays games with Kris like a hypnotist, getting her to think that a pitcher of ice cubes has the bright glow of a sun and moving on to far more life-shattering manipulations like emptying her bank account. And then “Upstream Color” gets really freaky when Kris is somehow forever connected with a pig through the surgical work of The Sampler (Andrew Sensenig), a man who could be a symbol for God or could represent medical manipulation in society. Yes, I said pig. As in “Babe.”

Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Upstream Color” review.

“Upstream Color” stars Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Thiago Martins, and Andrew Sensenig. It was written and directed by Carruth. It opens in Chicago tomorrow, April 12, 2013.