Upstream Color (2013)
80%RT Audience Score: 69%
Awards & Nominations: 5 wins & 35 nominations
As technically brilliant as it is narratively abstract, Upstream Color represents experimental American cinema at its finest — and reaffirms Shane Carruth as a talent to watch
Upstream Color is a movie that will leave you feeling like you just went on a wild ride through a wormhole. The visuals are stunning, but be warned, there are some creepy crawlies that might make you squirm. It’s a mix of body horror and mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat, trying to piece together the dream logic of it all. But don’t worry if you don’t get it all on the first go-around, it’s worth a second watch to fully appreciate the spiritual and existential themes woven throughout. Plus, the music is killer. Overall, a wholly original work of art that defies easy classification and is sure to leave a lasting impression.
Production Company(ies)
Red Light Films, HBO, Cinemax Documentary Creative Visions
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Dallas, Texas, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2013
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Stereo
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Apr 5, 2013 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 7, 2013
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
Worldwide gross: $587,174
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $745,915
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,656
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 81,343
US/Canada gross: $444,098
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $564,159
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,299
US/Canada opening weekend: $28,649
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $36,394
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,302
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $50,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $63,517
Production budget ranking: 2,147
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $34,204
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $648,194
ROI to date (est.): 663%
ROI ranking: 187
Juan García del Tocado – Ulises Sampiero
Angelina Chen – Lin
Leo Zapata – Isai
Jonathan Espinoza – Jeremy
Leonardo Garza – Pekesillo
Director(s)
Shane Carruth
Writer(s)
Shane Carruth
Producer(s)
Shane Carruth, Casey Gooden, Ben LeClair
Film Festivals
Sundance, Berlin, South by Southwest
Awards & Nominations
5 wins & 35 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (148) | Top Critics (55) | Fresh (127) | Rotten (21)
Upstream Color is a gorgeous movie-the play of sunlight in the visuals is exquisite-but its images of intestinal parasites are, well, off-putting.
August 28, 2019
Amy Taubin
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Blending languorous visual sensuality with a driving sense of paranoid urgency, this metaphorical mix of skin-crawling body horror and Lynchian mystery boasts a compelling dream logic that offsets its huge potential for being pretentious studenty twaddle.
September 5, 2017 | Rating: 4/5
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
metro.co.uk
TOP CRITIC
What the movie points to is worth following until you’re left with an enormous map that you spend the rest of the drive trying to refold.
January 3, 2014
Wesley Morris
Grantland
TOP CRITIC
Carruth’s visual approach, saved from abstraction by his own rapid, forward-leaping editing, is extremely assured. Seimetz is a fine and expressively haunted actress. I look forward to the enigmas in Carruth’s next picture.
December 17, 2013 | Rating: 2.5/4
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
Clearly, the film is intended as a tactile experience of poetic ideas, of modern disconnection and biophysical insecurity and existential doubt, and the clarity of these anxieties is bruising and stunning.
December 17, 2013
Michael Atkinson
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
Iit’s a film that I’d like to go back and look at again and give it a second go.
December 17, 2013 | Rating: 3/4
David Stratton
At the Movies (Australia)
TOP CRITIC
Parasitic worms and pig farms, past and present, real and surreal, Whitman and Thoreau all come together in this strangely sensual concoction.
July 24, 2020 | Rating: 4.5/5
Prahlad Srihari
Firstpost
Thematically huge, spiritual in nature, sweeping and epic despite a seemingly limited scope, this is a story about the human experience, about healing yourself and others, and that defies easy classification.
July 9, 2020 | Rating: A
Brent McKnight
The Last Thing I See
A gorgeous, utterly intoxicating Möbius strip, a wholly original work of art that defies simple categorization and achieves something few modern films ever do – a true sense of cinematic discovery.
August 6, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4
Mattie Lucas
From the Front Row
After just two films, Carruth has proven himself a filmmaker that’s fine with creating works that are open to interpretation for viewers willing to not have everything spelled out for them.
August 2, 2019
Paul Freitag-Fey
Daily Grindhouse
Carruth places us in the same radical position as his two stranded protagonists, who have been forced into a Thoreauvian journey to discover their inner “drummer”.
December 16, 2018 | Rating: 4/5
PJ Nabarro
Patrick Nabarro
Where .. .acting lacks expression … music fills in the blanks.
August 30, 2018
Pat Padua
DCist…
Plot
After undergoing a series of bizarre experiments, a woman meets a man who may have experienced the same ordeal, leading them on a journey to uncover the truth behind their shared experiences in Upstream Color.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
NA
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