Upstream Color 2013

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: 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. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Should you see Upstream Color? A better question may be: How many times should you see it? Read more

Michael Nordine, L.A. Weekly: One eventually grows so weary of discerning the signal from the noise that it all blurs together. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: A deeply sincere, elliptical movie about being and nature, men and women, self and other, worms and pigs ... Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: I've seen Upstream Color twice and liked it enormously while never being certain of anything. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: Visually and sonically hypnotic, it's an intensely sensory blend of internal monologue and unsettling mystery, draped over a thin skeleton of plot approached so obliquely that it seems almost inconsequential. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Upstream Color is one of the greatest realizations of the digital dream, which was supposed to allow filmmakers to express a full, idiosyncratic vision from outside the system. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: I loved it. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: While I feel compelled to see it again, I don't have high hopes that it will make any more sense. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: No one else today approaches the genre in quite this way; the only precedent I can think of is Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Sci-fi might have been too familiar a word, for what may induce a kind of hallucinatory melancholy in its viewers. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "Upstream Color" is splendid, transcendent weirdness. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Taken as a whole, it's an impressive piece of filmmaking that shows Carruth's talents as director, actor, cinematographer and composer. Read more

Melissa Maerz, Entertainment Weekly: If the movie is a bit of a mystery, so is Carruth. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: A relatively straightforward story steeped in abstract concepts upon which Carruth hangs themes of love, hope, fear, fate, free will, memory, identity, creativity, spirituality, the control of nature and the nature of control like so many paper chains. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: 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. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: A dramatically obscure, technically brilliant experiment in speculative fiction from Shane Carruth. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Being completely understood at first glance is not on creator Shane Carruth's agenda, but while this may sound upsetting, it turns out to be quite the opposite. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Elliptical and utterly fascinating adventure in cinema, one that defies simple explanations, but worms its way into the brain. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: A vision as vast and as natural as it is reflexively cinematic and fiercely compassionate. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: "Upstream Color" lacks both a clear point and, more crucially, a point of view. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: "Upstream Color" is weird, but it's worth the time. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: 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. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: It presents us with a glimpse of the vastness of existence, of our inner nature, and of nature without that is as equally dreadful, enveloping, and terrifying as it is beautiful. Read more

Simon Abrams, Chicago Sun-Times: A romance, a thriller, and a science-fiction drama, "Upstream Color" tantalizes viewers with an open-ended narrative about overcoming personal loss. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: What I discern here is the work of a unique visual stylist and collage artist who's creating obsessive-compulsive allegorical puzzles, whose underlying philosophy is deliberately unclear. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: The artistry on display is indisputable, and thrilling. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A cerebral, mournful mystery that resonates like a tuning fork struck on a far-off star. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, The Atlantic: 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. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Globe and Mail: Upstream Color is a deliberate exercise in swooning obscurity. You either go with its considerable sensory powers or you scratch a groove on your head. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Meanings are multiple, debatable and ultimately pointless. What really impresses about Upstream Color is Carruth's confident navigation of this fast river of ideas ... Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: The most visually imaginative American film since David Lynch's Eraserhead. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: No one is going to explain any of this for you-and the slightly snobby implication of Upstream Color is that explanations are for suckers. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Upstream Color is a stimulating and hypnotic piece of experimental filmmaking. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: It's a bloodless movie, and its ideas aren't as tricky or complex as Carruth's arch, mannered approach might suggest. Read more