Upstream Color

Upstream Color
(2013) [Trailer]
Director: Shane Carruth [IMDB]

Shane Carruth is known for making a little movie called Primer which I reviewed awhile back... you can read it here. It was a really interesting, albeit confusing title that left me wanting to see more from Carruth, so here is my chance.

Synopsis: Ummm let's see.... I got nothing.

Where Primer was confusing and complicated, Upstream Color is weird and obscure.... actually all those adjectives work for both films.

Warning: If you don't like artsy films that are challenging, stay the hell away from this thing, it might be one of the worst offenders out there.

That said, I still liked the film, for a few reasons. Its soundtrack is incredible and the cinematography is pretty impressive as well. The performances were all great and for being as out there as it is, I still found it very riveting.

I know there is no synopsis above, that's because it's hard to give one, but I'll try now.

I took away a few ideas from Upstream Color and I'm not sure if any of them are right, but I think that was the point of the filmmaker. It builds on this cycle of life where everything is connected, unbeknownst to the organisms and people involved... for the most part. The two leads of the film, break this cycle. The cycle is probably the most confusing part of Upstream Color. Was it a bad thing? I think yes, probably... but it could have been a metaphor for something else.

If you haven't seen the film this next paragraph may be a bit hard to follow.

I had one idea that is kind of interesting. The worms represent a religion or belief system if you will. They are implanted into these people who blindly follow it and give all their money to it. Walden represents their spiritual text (ie: the Bible or Quran) and they transcribe it and memorize it. They then break free of this worm by visiting The Sampler who moves the worms into pigs, in an almost ceremonial way. The pigs are like their former selves that The Sampler (maybe God?) uses to stay connected to them. If this sounds odd, it is, but that's the one issue with films like Upstream Color... they're so vague that they lead you to infer your own ideas into the fold. Is that a bad thing? Is it lazy film making? Who knows.

If you enjoy complex films, check it out, it doesn't get stranger than this.

Primer

Primer

(2004) [Trailer]
Director: Shane Carruth (IMDB)

I wish I was smart enough to build a time machine. I'm a pretty smart guy I would say, but the guys in Primer make me feel like an idiot and guess what... they build a time machine.

These two guys, Aaron and Abe, are working with these other two guys on some project in their garage. I would try to explain what that project is, but to be honest, I have no idea. I do know it requires a lot of circuit boards, gadgets, and technical terms that are confusing. Well Aaron and Abe stumble onto something pretty significant, basically they figure out how to time travel. They proceed to make a human sized time machine and start creating doubles of themselves. As one would imagine, things get a little hairy.

This movie is confusing as shit. I mean, really fucking confusing. If you've seen this before, and were to tell me you totally understood everything in it, I would say you're a damn liar... or a genius. I feel like I should re-watch it again, and maybe it'd help solidify things for me. I did love the direction on this movie. The angles that a lot of scenes were filmed with were cool, and the score is very pleasing. I liked the acting a lot too, the two main guys are very believable. The source material, albeit confusing, seemed extremely legit. As hard as it is to follow, I would recommend it, as I like challenging films. You can get it through Netflix.