I was lucky enough to attend a screening of Upstream Color while attending SXSW 2013 earlier this month, and it ended up being my favorite film I saw at the festival. For those who don't know, it's the second film from Shane Carruth, the man behind Primer, which is still my favorite film based around time travel. If you haven't seen that one, I can't recommend it enough. Watch it the next time you really want a movie that will challenge your intelligence, and don't care if that film wins the fight in the end your first time out.
Despite that, ten years after Primer, Carruth has created a film that makes Primer seem like a relative brain-walk in the brain-park.
The screening I attended had a Q&A right after with a few of the actors and I believe the sound designer as well (the sound design in this movie could be a whole post of its own). Amy Seimetz, the lead actress, was there. Andrew Sensenig was there as well, who plays "The Sampler", but will forever be known in my heart as "The Pig Guy". Andrew favorited the tweet I posted immediately after leaving the theater, which made me realize I REALLY HAVE TO WRITE THIS ARTICLE.
If you haven't seen the movie (out on DVD/Bluray in early May 2013), I'll be sure to let you know which paragraphs give away anything major, though I'll try to stay away from spoilers as much as possible.
Here goes.
First, let me preface this with what I believe about life, the universe, and our places in that universe. I'm not trying to get preachy or anything, and I normally keep this sort of thing to myself, but it applies, so bear with me.
I'm no quantum physics/science expert. At best, I'm a total novice who just happens to enjoy when REALLY smart people are able to simplify things for those of us of average intelligence. So I watch/listen to a lot of interviews with people like that. Michio Kaku's podcast, for example, is one I've listened to endlessly. Neil DeGrasse Tyson of course. That's a no-brainer. When quantum energy is discussed, a few things pop out to me.
First, quantum energy does not "disappear". It always exists. When it's done doing whatever it's doing, it just goes somewhere else, spreads out in the universe.
Second, if we ever were to theoretically create an artifical intelligence that is indistinguishable from human beings, it will be through quantum energy/computers. Which leads to a theory that perhaps ALL of us operate on quantum energy, that the electricity that runs through our brains, gives us consciousness and awareness of self is all of it quantum (that was a fun sentence to write. AND TO SAY.) When we die, per this theory, the energy that makes us who we are doesn't "die", it merely leaves the brain and spreads out in the universe. Now, to clarify, I do not think 100% that this is the answer to how the universe works, it's merely a theory that I find plausible and interesting. If I were a betting man, and HAD to pick an explanation for everything, I'd probably go with that (while in the back of my head thinking it's probably something even bigger we couldn't comprehend, but DAMN IT, the rules say I have to bet on something). As the sidekick in Nacho Libre would say, "I BELIEVE IN SCIENCE."
So let's say, for the sake of argument and this film theory I'm rolling out here, that is how the world works. It would be as if the universe were a tree, and we were all individual leaves on the tree. Each leaf has its own experience, never knowing what the other leaves are experiencing while it lives. When it dies, the energy that made it what it was goes back into the tree. Make sense? I hope so, because now I'm going to get more complicated.
MINOR SPOILER TIME
In the film, Kris (Amy Seimetz), is abducted and "drugged" when she is forced to swallow a living organism that gives her captor complete control over her. Brainwashed. Through the terrifying first 15-20 minutes, she is manipulated into losing a LOT of money to the man known only as The Thief. When he is done with her, he exits her life, never to be seen again. As she starts to regain herself, she finds her thoughts jumbled and difficult to interpret. This cascades and gets worse and worse through the end of the movie. But not long after losing her job, she meets a man named Jeff (played by Shane Carruth, who should really do more acting, he's awesome), who CLEARLY was put through the same experience as her. Together they try to make sense of the increasingly confusing world around them. They have no formal introduction either, they just sort of start talking to each other, perhaps awkwardly at first, but there is never a moment where they seem to "meet" for the first time. They just know each other, despite never having met.
There are constant shots of them performing continuous action in different settings. A movement/action that starts in one place, goes to one or two other places by the end, as if the exact same event, however inconsequential it may be, is happening simultaneously in multiple locations.
Earlier in the film, to extract the organism he forced her to swallow, the Thief brings her to the pig farm and has her blood transfused into a pig, until the organism leaves her bloodstream and enters the animal's.
There is a point where Kris talks to Jeff and tells a story from her childhood. Jeff says no, that's a story that happened in HIS childhood. They argue, never really working this point out, and it is not brought up again. It's as if they have a shared memory, as if they both lived that moment. In fact, as they go through life, they seem to know what various people on the street are thinking/doing/have done, like they're connected to them on some deep level.
On the pig farm, there is a sense that Kris and Jeff are also feeling what the pigs are feeling. Which makes some semblance of sense if you're following this so far, as the pigs ALSO have the organism inside of them (or did, at some point). It's almost as if every living thing that comes in contact with one of the organisms becomes connected on a deeper level. Upstream from the pig farm (I believe), flowers along the stream that were once white begin turning colors, especially yellow and blue (on an unrelated note, those were my elementary school colors; GO TAUNTON ELEMENTARY). At this point, things get even MORE jumbled, and those colors start to take on an importance that the characters become obsessed with, but can't seem to quite understand.
More things happen, but I think enough has been put out there at this point, and I don't want to spoil EVERYTHING for those reading and not caring about minor spoilers, so first, let's get this out of the way...
END OF MINOR SPOILERS
Here's my overall theory on this film. And I don't consider this a spoiler because it's just my interpretation. The actress, Amy Seimetz, alluded to the idea, when asked what the film was actually about, that it's about how we try to find meaning in everything, even when it's as confusing as this film was, and that it can mean so many different things to different people. That's fine. I accept that. I tend to get annoyed by statements like that about movies about 98% of the time, but every once in a long while I can go with it. Like this instance. Well played, Amy.
Perhaps it was because I've watched Primer so many times, but my brain went into this movie ready to think in very heady, scientific terms. I was actively searching for a complicated scientific meaning is what I'm saying. In Primer, the main characters are initially attempting to invent something together in their garage, something very complicated that they hope will make them rich. Completely by accident, what they create ends up being a time machine, when that was never their intended purpose. It just worked out that way.
In Upstream Color, I believe The Thief from the first act of the movie made what he set out to make. An organism he could force someone to ingest that would affect their body's chemistry to the point where he has them brainwashed. A living brainwashing drug if you will. But, inadvertantly, and perhaps unbeknownst to him, what he created has a major side effect: Every living thing that comes in contact with one of the organisms has their brain chemistry affected so that their quantum-energy "souls", for lack of a better term, can now feel things on a universal level. The way I think our energy dissipates when we die and becomes part of the universe, they now feel that while still alive. And everyone who comes into contact with the organisms become connected on a universal level.
Quantum entanglement. When you have two particles in two completely different areas, even millions or billions of light years away, in a place we can never reach. And when one moves, despite how far away the other particle is, it moves in tandem. I think everyone who comes into contact with the organism becomes entangled on a quantum level, and that their "souls" have essentially become one. What one experiences, so do all the rest. And as more and more people are affected, those who are already connected become more and more disoriented. And I think it crosses into other dimensions as well. Different versions of the same person, all being affected because, in other dimensions, slightly different versions of themselves have the same experience. And other dimensions, theoretically, are just REALLY REALLY far away, beyond the borders of our universe. But because they've all become entangled on a quantum level, the distance, even trans-dimensionally, does not matter.
When the flowers are affected, one of the side effects is the color change. But now they feel the flower too, and hence the obsession with their colors.
The flowers, the pigs, the people: They all exist separately, but their energies (souls) that make them who they are, have become entangled, due to the side effect of a living brainwashing organism.
BAM. SCIENCE.
Different theory? Completely disagree? Completely AGREE? Think it's all a bunch of hogwash? GREAT! Let me know your thoughts. Keep in mind, this comes after one viewing, and I doubt you can fully grasp EVERYTHING in one shot. Maybe I've missed something entirely. I'll be getting it day one for sure when it's out on Bluray though, I can tell you that.
I've also purchased the soundtrack, which is also by Shane Carruth and is PHENOMENAL. Especially love the first track, and the last three. Check it out for free on Soundcloud at:
https://soundcloud.com/shane-carruth/sets/upstream-color-original-motion-picture-score
Hope you enjoyed this rambling. I'm going to go rest my brain.
-- Russell
