Review – Upstream Color

Upstream Color is the sophomore effort from film-maker Shane Carruth. His debut feature, Primer, was shot on a minuscule budget of $7000, but went on to become a cult hit for its plausible and ambitious depiction of time travel. The film was also notable for being complicated and difficult to follow, so it was an open question whether his follow-up would be critically-acclaimed or barely comprehensible. It turned out to be both.

Kris (Amy Seimetz – herself a formidable director) is abducted by a stranger and implanted with a worm-like organism which leaves her in a hypnotic state. Pliable to suggestion, she gives away everything she owns to her captor before he flees, leaving her without any memories of the event. Through vignettes and snapshots, we see her struggle to piece her life back together, and solve the mystery of what happened to her, as she finds herself drawn to a stranger who seems to have had a similar experience (Jeff, played by Carruth).

What makes Shane Carruth remarkable as a film-maker is the level of complexity he engages with in his world building. We’re only given the barest of insights into what’s actually happening, but you can’t but feel that it all makes sense if only you would just think about it long enough. In large part, this is because he gets a lot of the incidental technicalities right. It’s what makes Upstream Color a refreshingly strong sci-fi film, and probably one of the finest of the last decade. Its dreamlike pacing and confusing plot-line won’t make it popular with general audiences, but with a unique conceit, gorgeous sound design and strong acting performances, it is likely to become another cult hit.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U9KmAlrEXU&w=400]