Unburdened by conventional narrative sense, Upstream Color is a true curiosity. Seductively strange, woozily kinetic and above all romantic, Shane Carruth's second feature is a little film with big, bizarre ideas. Incorporating pig farming, scientific experimentation and sound recording, it proves that you don't need a sizeable production budget to swoop and soar on the big screen, and that you don't always need to know precisely what's going on to be immersed in a story.
Amy Seimetz plays Kris, a successful creative. One night she's kidnapped, seemingly at random, and force-fed a specially selected grub. Upon ingestion she becomes blindly obliging and, some time later, after the insect is removed, she's cast back into the world - her life as she knew it effectively destroyed. A year or so down the line and Kris meets jeff (Carruth), who's had a similar experience, and they fall in love.
It's a film that's the sum of effective contradictions
When Carruth released the micro-budget, hugely innovative Primer in 2004 it announced him as an exciting new filmmaking talent, one who was capable of taking on multiple roles. A film called "A Topiary" was reportedly in the works in the intervening period but fell through. Upstream Color finds Carruth nearly a decade later, still very much doing-it-himself: along with directing and starring in this film he acted as producer, editor, composer, camera operator and DP.
Without going any further in terms of divulging plot, a lot is covered in Upstream Color. There's the potency and mysteries of nature, the cruelty and meddlesomeness of humanity, the fragility of identity and the way couples can become almost one instinctively aligned entity. It's beautifully shot and performed and rather than feeling jarringly strange, Upstream Color's eccentricity is as muted as its gentle palate. The plot is frequently incomprehensible but that's allayed by an overarching sincerity and the aforementioned romance. It's a film that's the sum of effective contradictions: it bewitches as it confuses and takes us physically close (under the skin even) while keeping us teasingly in the dark.
Watch the trailer for Upstream Color
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