81
Metascore
27 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The PlaylistRodrigo PerezThe PlaylistRodrigo PerezYou may not be able to figure it out, but that's part of the point of this sensually-directed, sensory-laden experiential (and experimental) piece of art that washes over you like a sonorous bath of beguiling visuals, ambient sounds and corporeal textures.
- 100The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasIt might be fair to argue that the resonances of Upstream Color are too obscure and internal — many viewers have and will be baffled by it — but it’s the type of art that inspires curiosity and obsession, like some beautiful object whose meaning remains tantalizingly out of reach.
- 88Slant MagazineSlant MagazineUpstream Color is lush, rhythmic, and deeply sensual, a film of exceptional beauty.
- 83Film.comWilliam GossFilm.comWilliam GossAs willfully oblique as his first film was densely foreboding, a rumination on the perils and pleasures of interpersonal connection that would seem to refuse any easy connection with even the most curious of audiences.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyUpstream Colors certainly is something to see if you’re into brilliant technique, expressive editing, oblique storytelling, obscuritanist speculative fiction or discovering a significant new actress.
- 80VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangThis is a warmer, less foreboding picture than "Primer," not moving in any conventional sense, but suffused with emotion all the same.
- 80New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinI’ve seen Upstream Color twice and liked it enormously while never being certain of anything.
- 60Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfNo one is going to explain any of this for you — and the slightly snobby implication of Upstream Color is that explanations are for suckers.
- 60Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekVillage VoiceStephanie ZacharekTo be bewildered by Upstream Color is to be human; the story is obtuse by design, though the filmmaking is X-Acto precise. But it's a bloodless movie, and its ideas aren't as tricky or complex as Carruth's arch, mannered approach might suggest.