Upstream Color (2013)
Starring Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig and Thiago Martins.
Directed by Shane Carruth
MPAA Theatrical Rating: None
Worms. Pigs. Sounds. Strange flowers. Psychic visions. Upstream Color makes little effort to meet the viewer halfway, but then, why should it? People got so worked up about the plot mechanics of Shane Carruth's first film, the excellent time travel mindfuck Primer, that they missed what the movie was about altogether. That Primer's twisted timeline was interesting enough to warrant multiple viewings is a testament to Carruth's writing, but at its heart, Primer was a film about trust more than temporal paradox. In the same way, it's easy to focus on Upstream Color's obtuseness or its sound design or its indignant lack of exposition, but in the end, it feels like a simple story about the ways in which people connect in the face of a trauma.
The plot involves plants that beget worms that secret some kind of neurological agent that works either as a hypnotic drug or a magical mind control device. Ultimately, while that's interesting to dissect, none of it matters because if you substitute the worms and the "Sampler" and the many inexplicable things that happen in the movie for some real tragedy that is equally inexplicable and senseless, you can see what Carruth is after. Upstream Color will likely be completely engrossing or completely off-putting, and I can understand both reactions. I think that may be a sign of greatness. With Kathy Carruth, Meredith Burke and Andreon Watson.
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