After writing up Upstream Color one reader was vocal in wanting more, noting where I wrote, “There is much more to explore, much more that would need explaining for all the pieces to come together.” The emphasis on the “all” is there for a reason.
There certainly is more to Upstream Color than I addressed in that first article, but when it came to interpreting what was going on, which was the goal of the article, I felt I’d painted a rather distinct picture of what I felt the film encompassed. To touch go further with that write-up would have been to merely add shading and highlights concerning the more enigmatic elements of the film, which I felt were best left for future discussions.
Now, an interview with Carruth at Filmmaker Magazine has come online where he essentially breaks the whole thing down and, as it turns out, I wasn’t too far off. At least, not too far off his intention, which seems to include coming up with your own interpretations as any film of this sort should:
“What I wanted to do was have a story where I break some people apart and make them have to figure it out all over again — what it is that they are, how they see themselves and how they behave. They’re going to wake up — whatever ‘wake up’ means — in a ruin of some kind, and they’re going to have to understand or explain to themselves what happened to them. That was sort of the kernel of it.
“I wanted to explore the concept of trying to recognize that you’re in a narrative, one that you may have made up yourself, or one that was [impressed] on you from an outside force. Thematically, this is everything in the film for me.
“And then you have a potential romance in the midst of it all, and I found that incredibly compelling. I think I had The Hustler on repeat last year for months. That’s where it comes from, the romantic possibility that exists when everything has been stripped away. I don’t know a better premise for a love story that that.
“And then, I needed this mythical cycle to be happening around them. They’re not aware of it, because if they are, then that changes everything. Then they know that their story is affected by it. I wanted these mythical elements to be there, but that [the two central characters] not touch them. Once I knew that, then it’s like you get to play with these things.
“You’ve got a Thief, you’ve got a Sampler and you’ve got the Orchid Mother and Daughter as the three points of this continuing cycle’s triangle. The Thief is clearly a pretty negative force, for the most part. The Orchid Mother and Daughter don’t know what they’re doing. They’re just cogs in the machine. They’re completely benign. And then, you’ve got The Sampler, who is a complete unknown hanging in the middle, this character we can read into. Is he just observing, or is he gaining something from his observance? Is he saving people from this worm that is constricting and controlling them? Or, is he just using this device to grow his own fishbowl full of emotional experiences?”
Looking back at my interpretation, I left the Orchid Mother and Daughter out of it, but I felt they were the most obvious additions to the story in terms of their metaphorical involvement, as Carruth says, “They’re just cogs in the machine.” Where I chose to focus my attention was on The Sampler whose existence in the film, once understood, will lead you to paths of explanation for the rest of the characters and it would seem Carruth meant it exactly in these terms.
In an interview with The Playlist, Carruth addresses The Sampler specifically saying:
I wanted him to be a character that we wouldn’t know. Basically all we see him do is observe. We see the thief do something malicious; we see the orchid guy doing something which is the opposite of that — pretty peaceful and non-confrontational; and then we’ve got this sampler who is deeply involved with all of the characters but he’s only observing. But then the question is, is he culpable at all if he’s benefiting from this traumatic experience even though he’s not the one who caused it?
And that became very important because we’re talking about off-screen forces. But it’s meant to be more universal than a religious or [other] belief system, it should encompass pharmaceuticals or someone with a belief system about fate or cosmic whatever or even political belief systems or anything that informs you of things that aren’t your fault that you’re being affected by. “They’re out there, and I’m the way I am because of this,” or “I’m doing what I’m doing because of how they’re touching me, affecting me.”
So because of that, The Sampler isn’t meant to be necessarily God, but he represents that thing, whether that’s a good or bad thing or even real, and so to track him down and blame him and punish him — it’s one of the things that I think is subversive about the film.
As I said, I interpreted The Sampler as society at large, both observant and influential, and looked at the stripping down of Kris (Amy Seimetz) and Jeff (Carruth) as removing any past influence society may have had on their lives, giving them a chance to start anew and find themselves all over again, though with a greater appreciation for what it all means.
So, like I said, there are additional facets of the story to explore, from Thoreau’s “Walden” to the Starlings to the maggots to the leaves, water, flowers, pigs and rocks, but I think those are all a variety of levels of self-interpretation that won’t necessarily come to the surface after one or even two viewings. At this point I would like everyone to see the film at least once and hopefully the dialogue I’m currently only having with myself will become more of a communal effort, because if you consider yourself a fan of cinema you are going to want to see out this movie.
Right now Upstream Color is only playing in one New York theaters, but it will open in select markets next weekend, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Boston and Toronto, before expanding to the top 50 markets on April 19. It will expand further at the end of April and will be available online in digital format starting May 7, but I have a special treat for you…
Shane, who is self-distributing Upstream Color, has approved a $5 discount off the digital price of the film using the discount code “ropeofsilicon” at the preorder site, or just click here and it will automatically be applied. The code will remain active until May 7 so get your preorders in now.
To read my previous article examining the film click here.
