UPSTREAM COLOR

UPSTREAM COLOR Review

By Darin Skaggs

     In 2004 Shane Carruth made the time travel film Primer.  Since that many people have studied, dissected and over analyzed it due to the strict time travel elements.  Nine years later Carruth has come up with his sophomore film Upstream Color.  This is a film that is not based on logic like his previous, but based on human emotion.

     From the way it is told the story is difficult to pin down.  Kris, Amy Siemetz, is at a club when a man drugs her, drags her out and they end up at her place.  She is “hypnotized” into drinking water and telling where her most valuables are, which are coins.  After a morning of panic, an afternoon of stress, Kris is then drawn to an RV during the night time where a man removes the worm that she was drugged with.  Sometime later she meets Jeff, played by the director, and they are drawn together.  At the same time the man who removed the worm is watching over many pigs that seem to be living in parallel with Kris and Jeff.  There are many other pigs that make you think that other people have gone through what Kris did.

     This film is full of emotional moments and is a study of pain, love, loneliness and togetherness.  The two leads when they meet are at their worst.  When they talk they don’t have much in common at all.  Yet, they spend every waking moment they can together.  You can tell they care for each other and want to be with each other because it makes them feel better.  The man with the pigs is confused why the surrogate pigs for Kris and Jeff are also hanging out.  They have both been through a tragedy.  They are not aware it was the same event but still their sadness makes them bond more than if they were feeling normal.

     With all of that confusion the film is hard to digest and take in.  The mainstream audience will not be patient with this but loyal viewers will be majorly satisfied.  This is a film, like many films this year, which can mean different things to different people.  The film can be seen as sci-fi.  You can also see it as only metaphors.  You can even meet those opinions half way.

     It is a beautiful meditation on tragedy and love.  The acting is great especially Seimetz.  It is a crazy and weird film yet ends with a lot of hope.