Upstream Colour

Usually the hardest part of writing a film review is not giving away the plot. In the case of Upstream Colour that is no problem at all. Because, after watching it, I still have no idea what it is about.

When you fail to understand something as totally as I did this film, you are left with two possibilities:

1) The work is of such staggering complexity that it is beyond my comprehension level. It is the cinematic equivalent of a small-print unillustrated book on Quantum Mechanics. It doesn't matter how hard I look, or how much I think about it, I'm just never going to get it.

2) There is no meaning. The film was made by a bunch of art students dicking around. They thought that if they made something abstract then lots of people would assume that it must be case (1) above and everyone would think they were geniuses. The cinematic equivalent of The Emperors New Clothes.

I've seen plenty of profound films that have affected me deeply. This film just baffled me and after an hour I just wanted it to end.

Initially I thought it was telling a story about mind-control and was to be taken literally. Then it seemed that it was in fact about mental illness and the early scenes were supposed to be some sort of post-rationalisation of Kris's state. By the end everything was looking literal again... bizarre as it was.

I really liked Shane Caruth's film Primer. That was confusing in a delightful way because the complexity came from the fact that time travel is complicated. You didn't know what was going on, but you understood why you didn't understand. My problem with Upstream Colour is that you have nothing to hang on to. And for that reason it didn't connect with me and I didn't enjoy it.