Upstream Color Reviews

This enigma-delivery system from a sharp mind has enthralling moments but becomes a bit enervating in its self-seriousness. By the end, the whole thing feels more academic than mind-bending.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

One eventually grows so weary of discerning the signal from the noise that it all blurs together.

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A baffling, opaque mess. But at least it's got a baby pig.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

The movie's deep emotional underpinnings are compromised by too many images that skew toward a dense, abstract sensibility.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

Pretentious hogwash--sometimes literally. Coherence is not your enemy, buddy, but you and your movies are why some people hate independent cinema.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4

"Upstream Color" lacks both a clear point and, more crucially, a point of view.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

So soft-focus is Shane Carruth's praised anticipated 'Upstream Color' that any adjectives might be applied except 'coherent' and 'bearable.'

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Upstream Color is an admirable workout for the mind that regrettably falls short -- try as it might -- in offering the heart a similar trial.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

It's a bloodless movie, and its ideas aren't as tricky or complex as Carruth's arch, mannered approach might suggest.

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Like Primer, Upstream Color was written, directed, produced, edited and scored by its star. So there is at least one person out there who presumably knows what it all means.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

If Shane Carruth's time-traveling debut Primer was about outthinking what you might do in the future, his second movie, Upstream Color, is about deciphering why you feel the way you do right now.

Full Review | Original Score: 8.4/10

Upstream Color is a very layered and complex movie. But it's also rich and beautiful. I expect nothing less from the crowded and radiant mind of Shane Carruth.

Full Review | Original Score: A

A 96-minute therapy session where discomforting symbology and gross human abuse create a framework for powerful, all-consuming love.

Full Review | Original Score: 9.5/10

There's some sort of genius buried within Upstream Color, but it's so enigmatic and obscure that by the time you reach it after digging through its countless layers you'll likely never find your way back again.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10

If it's something different you're after, Upstream Color is your movie. But be careful what you wish for. It's a film about having pig dreams, and the courage to follow them.

Full Review | Original Score: B

Upstream Color is lush, rhythmic, and deeply sensual, a film of exceptional beauty.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4

Shane Carruth continues to grow as a filmmaker even as he remains keen to puzzle and perhaps frustrate. Upstream Color is, above all else, an unforgettable experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

Swooning, frightening, intoxicating, and a cinematic experience that feels genuinely new.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Carruth may be something that the movies haven't yet seen, perhaps the first great realization of the democratization of filmmaking that digital technology and the Internet promised.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10

Like Primer, Upstream Color will benefit from repeated viewings, from the ability to rewind, review, rethink. Dive in.

Full Review | Original Score: A-

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