Upstream ColorHow are we connected to one another? Is it spiritual? Is it physiological? How literal can empathy be? Upstream Color is a story of a young woman who falls prey to a wholly unique kind of traumatic con, ending with her finances drained, branded with physical and emotional scars, and a psychological compulsion that haunts her subconscious. But she is not alone--quite the opposite, actually; the same process that has been inflicted upon Kris (Amy Seimetz) has been done to a man she forms a metaphysical bond with, Jeff (Shane Carruth). The two fall in love, but are haunted by the events which connect them beyond their own relationship.
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Upstream Color is the second feature film by the ambitious auteur, Shane Carruth, who not only stars as Jeff, but writes, directs, produces, edits, and even composes the haunting musical score for the film. His artistic vision for the film is complex, but deals with relatable characters in a surreal situation. Filled with "blink and you'll miss it" moments, Upstream Color gives us flashes of insight and vision, experienced by our characters, reflected in the razor sharp editing. Cutaways between characters and other people (and animals) affected by the subliminal link they share establish emotional connections that would be either impossible or ridiculous to attempt to expound verbally or with any greater degree of exposition. The empathic connection that Kris and Jeff share is one that has resulted from a sophisticated process involving grubs that feed upon special plants. When the grubs are ingested in some capacity, they create a psychic link, and people feel what others connected feel, see what they see, know what they know. But this connection has dark applications, as exploited by the "Thief" (Thiago Martins) character early on, who uses the power of the grubs to maintain a hypnotic spell over Kris, and that process leaves her a wreck after the violation. It's suggested that the Thief also has some kind of microcosmic connection to the real sorcerer behind the link, a character who runs a pig farm and produces music under the label "Quinoa Valley", a man referred to in the credits as the "Sampler" (Andrew Sensenig). The Sampler may have been the first to experience the almost supernatural power of the link, derived--as we later discover--from the flowers that grow upon a tree upstream near his locale; and like legends of primeval magic, it calls for a sacrifice. The Sampler harvests the larvae that grow in the victims, and implants them into pigs, who share many genetic similarities with humans. Raising the pigs, he is able to maintain a voyeuristic, godlike omniscience over those who have also gone on to share this link with him.
After Kris' life falls apart and she meets Jeff, the two wearily begin a relationship, both damaged by their traumatic experiences with the grubs, the violations, and that neither of them can recall the events that robbed them of their past lives. But little by little, they begin to recount similarities and events that they share...their identities blur--as is sometimes the case with deeply close couples, but to an extent far beyond normal. They believe events of their childhood that were exclusively one or the other's, belong to them both...they bicker and argue about this, until they begin to uncover things they could not possibly have known about one another, events that they hold deep in their psyches. For instance, in the period of time when Kris was being manipulated by the Thief to record passages from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" (a particularly apt choice) onto pages later looped and adhered by a glue stick--a hypnotic technique to keep her mentally preoccupied--Kris finds a kind of obsessive-compulsive need to collect rocks from the bottom of a pool while reciting lines from the book. But both Jeff and Kris have these same passages memorized...or at least, they share the knowledge between them in a way that makes that connection visible. Upstream Color is a film of rich tone and gorgeous visual fidelity, with a piercing look into the aftermath of victims of a unique kind of identity misappropriation. Both Kris and Jeff have had to cope with events that have led them to believe that they might be crazy, but their relationship reinforces in each other a strength that had long been left to rot in the recesses of their souls. And the Sampler represents a totally unique kind of antagonist, one who does not generally appear to be evil, but is the benefactor of a process that has left a multitude of people--not just Kris and Jeff--scarred, yet strangely gifted, as a result of the sociological and transcendental experiment. Upstream Color deals largely in metaphor, but is not without firm, identifiable characters in Kris and Jeff, both of who share the pains of having troubled pasts, but accept one another's fears and challenges, and forge a bond that is arguably deeper than most other loves.
Recommended for: Fans of deeply moving and hauntingly poetic films, filled with mystery and bittersweet relationships, insidious identity crime, and a richly layered tale presented in a pure cinema style. Upstream Color is an achievement, and if there is but one filmmaker that I admire more than any other, it is Shane Carruth.
After Kris' life falls apart and she meets Jeff, the two wearily begin a relationship, both damaged by their traumatic experiences with the grubs, the violations, and that neither of them can recall the events that robbed them of their past lives. But little by little, they begin to recount similarities and events that they share...their identities blur--as is sometimes the case with deeply close couples, but to an extent far beyond normal. They believe events of their childhood that were exclusively one or the other's, belong to them both...they bicker and argue about this, until they begin to uncover things they could not possibly have known about one another, events that they hold deep in their psyches. For instance, in the period of time when Kris was being manipulated by the Thief to record passages from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" (a particularly apt choice) onto pages later looped and adhered by a glue stick--a hypnotic technique to keep her mentally preoccupied--Kris finds a kind of obsessive-compulsive need to collect rocks from the bottom of a pool while reciting lines from the book. But both Jeff and Kris have these same passages memorized...or at least, they share the knowledge between them in a way that makes that connection visible. Upstream Color is a film of rich tone and gorgeous visual fidelity, with a piercing look into the aftermath of victims of a unique kind of identity misappropriation. Both Kris and Jeff have had to cope with events that have led them to believe that they might be crazy, but their relationship reinforces in each other a strength that had long been left to rot in the recesses of their souls. And the Sampler represents a totally unique kind of antagonist, one who does not generally appear to be evil, but is the benefactor of a process that has left a multitude of people--not just Kris and Jeff--scarred, yet strangely gifted, as a result of the sociological and transcendental experiment. Upstream Color deals largely in metaphor, but is not without firm, identifiable characters in Kris and Jeff, both of who share the pains of having troubled pasts, but accept one another's fears and challenges, and forge a bond that is arguably deeper than most other loves.
Recommended for: Fans of deeply moving and hauntingly poetic films, filled with mystery and bittersweet relationships, insidious identity crime, and a richly layered tale presented in a pure cinema style. Upstream Color is an achievement, and if there is but one filmmaker that I admire more than any other, it is Shane Carruth.