Shane Carruth's previous film, Primer, is a very clinical and cold film, yet nine years later he returns with Upstream Color, a film grounded in emotion and warmth. This is a film with a love story at its core, and like Primer, the science fiction elements are secondary to the exploration of the character's relationship. Since this film hasn't reached a wide release yet, I will spend the first paragraph addressing why one should see it, without spoilers, and then I will continue with my analysis of the film.

Upstream Color is a film that expects a lot from its audience, and the form of the film is definitely challenging. Yet Carruth grounds his film in the characters, and the…

Shane Carruth’s belated follow-up to his befuddling debut, Primer, proves no less puzzling yet for markedly different reasons. Primer was intricately plotted yet, given the time and inclination, its multiple narratives could be untangled. Upstream Color is far more abstract and elusive and I suspect clarity will never be forthcoming no matter how many times you attempt to decipher its mysteries. It is also a far more emotionally engaging story compared to the sterile coldness of his time travel darling.

Upstream Color is a woozy and elegiac tale of love, loss and connections. Its story is not easily explained, not without reducing its plot to New Age twaddle, nor easily understood. It is dense, thematically perplexing and hauntingly hallucinatory -…

Shane Carruth’s alluring Upstream Color is Invasion of the Body Snatchers for the art house crowd, with hogs replacing pods and identity crisis substituting for McCarthyism. That may be an awfully crude comparison but it’s the overall gist I got as I watched this beguiling, beautiful film. One thing’s for sure, the plot’s mind-control science fiction aspect plays only second fiddle to the transcendent yet universal overarching theme of emotional resonance in people in the vein of Henry David Thoreau’s literature. This is an ambitious, dense, slippery piece of experimental filmmaking with big ideas and Carruth conveys these enthralling notions through a masterwork in poetic editing, shot composition, and aural design.

First thing going in to this movie is to…

"I have to apologize... I was born with a disfigurement where my head is made of the same material as the sun."

one of the only love stories in recent memory that actually *does* make sense. certain films are often (and lazily) described as the kind of thing that you need to see twice, but it truly is sadistically cruel that the end of this film doesn’t immediately loop around to the beginning… not to plug holes, but to heal tissue.

a true headphone movie, if ever there was such a thing, it’s an analog romance about collective memory and fundamental togetherness, elliptically edited to the extreme, but done so with such organic forward motion that - at its best…

Shane Carruth when asked, what Upstream Color meant, reluctantly said that he does not prefer for it to have any single, specific interpretation. This statement, I comprehended to be his way of indirectly saying that if he were to spell out what it actually meant then it would take all the sheen, mesmerising beauty and the enigma of the film away. This is almost him saying he prefers people to come out with their own ideas and theories of it. Not only Upstream Color, but any abstract form of art deserves to be open to various interpretations, providing fodder for the brains of those who experience it and satisfaction that what they believe is the truth and that it was…

I'm nearly four full days removed from experiencing this film and I'm not sure I'm any closer to unravelling what it's all about. To me it was a film about shared experiences and relationships; where do our memories come from and are they our own? The images in the film and the questions it implanted in my brain have remained with me since I left the cinema; I don't think I will be rid of them any time soon.

There is a scene, a beautiful, lyrical scene where the two lead characters are discussing specific memories, essentially arguing over who owns them. This served to sum up most of what I felt the film was about, but it was also…

After my mixed feelings towards Primer, I had hoped that I would enjoy writer/director Shane Carruth’s follow up feature film - Upstream Color more. I can’t say I particularly did.

Upstream Color is so overtly ambitious that every scene feels like a drawn out essay. Carruth is a brilliant filmmaker and the cinematography is consistently stunning, but I feel as though he may need to step back from his own work. Much like Primer, Carruth stars in the film alongside more talented actors. Although I can understand the merit of acting in your own film to get the performance you have in your head, I feel like having a cast that can handle the much deeper and complex issues that…

"I have to apologize. I was born with a disfigurement where my head is made of the same material as the sun."

Life as a result of Death. Its cycle and how to break it to evolve.

Showing that not everything's written, the right to free will.

Loving life. Both other people's and yours. Finding your soulmate.

Overcoming the label, deserved or not, of "outcast", imposed by modern society.

Defending yourself from the pressure of the civilized world. Following the rules set by nature. Overthrowing a Government.

Challenging God.

I find myself in the difficult position of writing a review about something that doesn't need words, being their images the ones that generate impressive sensations that capture the essence of…

8/10 - Great

"Each drink is better than the last ..." -Thief

A sensuous experience of the highest quality, Upstream Color thrives on the unique vision of its auteur but lacks clear catharsis. Only marginally more comprehensible then my last viewing, the uninformative narrative evocates distinct and uncommon feelings, but still retaining basic emotional resonance throughout the plot’s main events, such as Kris and her displacement, Jeff and his resolve, and their odd yet sensual affection for each other. In partnership with the screenwriting, the film’s style dually contributes to this creative state of mind through warping visuals and blended sound.

Cinematography often acts as a kind of strobe light, flashing the audience with bright and especially light colors, sometimes…