REVIEW: Upstream Color: The Final MPDG movie

This is a little review/motivator for anyone who hasn't seen the movie. Here's the trailer, one of the best trailers I've ever seen, promotes intrigue without giving anything away.: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/upstreamcolor/

For those who have seen it check out the second review on my site: "Which God left us here?" for some brain teasing about what is going on in the movie on a global level/personal/whatthehellisgoingon? level. BUT anyways, on to the review,

I'm going to go ahead and say that watching this movie made me feel like I'd never seen a movie before. It is hopeful, it is beautiful, it allows you to feel when other movies are shoving action in your face. Usually I spend time dissecting movies, critiquing, sometimes I really get engulfed and am entertained but few movies give me real pause. Upstream Color dropped my jaw to the floor and kept it there for the entire movie, it made me think about things I didn't even know the movie was about til days after I was still thinking about it. When I watched it I couldn't move, couldn't check my phone, didn't get another beer, didn't do anything. I recommend watching it with someone who isn't a heckler or stickler or watch it alone, it'll be worth it, because the movie is very intense, complicated, and most importantly it's about you.

The movie intentionally avoids answering certain questions and can be perceived as vague but it does so with purpose. See the movie isn't about the characters, it is about you, your interpretation of this impossible thing that happens to them. Of course many movies do this with metaphors, but this does it with unspecific plot points, that yes they'll make sense the second time watching, but the first time, it's like music, you're just feeling through the movie. It's attributed to the artistry with which Shane Carruth tells the story.  It wraps artistry amid strong emotional entanglements, peeks into unanswered questions even as the credits roll, and tackles the idea of dancing souls.

Basically the movie is about Kris, a successful, cold, typical cog-in-the-machine character with her pragmatic life on track but not much spirituality in her life A drug-inducing guru with an amazing narrating voice guides her through a trip that will jump-start her life to give her new purpose and reprioritize what is important to her. She loses all her money and assets, loses her job, her house, her sense of identity, her self-assuredness. In her new life she takes a shit job, she becomes sullen and nervous, cuts her hair short, and indulges in strange activities like collecting rocks in a pool while quoting a book of poetry. This transition finally explains that parasitic hallucinations are the cause for manic pixie dream girl syndrome.

With any great MPDG movie there's of course a dark-haired male protagonist who compensates his own dull, unsuccessful life by blindly indulging in her quirky, absurdist activities like listening to rocks fall in a drain pipe, reciting poetry while swimming, and crying about a noise only she can here. And they resolve her problems by buying a album "you probably haven't heard of." Hahaha, just saying. I mean I love the movie, just poking fun. I think the chivalry of his faith in her is one of the most inspiring aspects of the movie, that love is about the choice to have faith in someone. Definitely watch this movie if you haven't already, my second blog in this series has plenty of spoilers.