A kidnapped woman is infected with a parasite that controls her mind. She recovers via the means of pig-related resuscitation, by a pig farmer/musician who keeps a detailed dossier on everyone who went through the same thing as her. You can tell that this is not your average sci-fi film.
Shown as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival, Upstream Color, self-distributed by the director, producer, screenwriter, composer and star Shane Carruth, is also an unconventional love story. Kris (Amy Seimetz) and Jeff (Carruth), both victims of different magic-maggot-induced abductions find themselves attracted to one another, but possibly by force? Together, they try to get their lives back to normal, but that’s not an easy task.
That’s probably the best synopsis I could give, as Carruth’s filmmaking style means that the viewer is left to piece most of the plot together, allowing for many different interpretations and theories as to what happened to Kris and Jeff, and why it is so?
Just like his critically-acclaimed debut film about an accidental time-travel discovery, Primer (2004), he explores the themes of identity via the means of intricate storytelling. Look up the film on Wikipedia, a chart posted with the article should give you an idea at what kind of story Carruth can tell with a very small budget ($7000).
Firstly, the film looks and sounds stunning. The meticulous and overlapping, almost non-linear, editing makes for some interesting exposition, even if it made me a little uncomfortable. And yet, I could not look away. Along with the ambient soundtrack, Upstream Color was like an art piece by a brilliant but slightly troubled artist. Amy Seimetz was also outstanding, as she almost carries the whole film based on her performance as the ever-evolving protagonist.
But at times, the film does get carried away with its own sense of pretention. One scene has Kris swimming in a public pool, grabbing rocks from the bottom of the deep end, while Jeff reads off Henry Thoreau’s Walden, with Kris eventually joining in as though she wrote the book herself. I am not familiar with Thoreau or his work, so I’m afraid the symbolism is lost on me.
Also, the final third of the film features no dialogue whatsoever. While I do appreciate what Carruth was going for, and it mostly works especially due to the soundtrack, I felt that just a tiny bit of conversation would do wonders, especially so that I knew what was happening.
Watching with the sold-out crowd at the Forum Theatre, I noticed that the audience’s reaction at the end of the film was the perfect encapsulation of how one would react to Upstream Color. While many applauded, some others grumbled their way out of the theatre, wondering what the hell just happened?
But for me, as someone who went in without prior knowledge of the film, Upstream Color wasn’t just a film, it was an experience. One that I should watch again and again just to get an idea at what the film was going for.
★★★★
UPSTREAM COLOR (CTC) ran as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival. A limited-run release premieres 22 August 2013 nationwide.
