You guys got the basic jist of it with Upstream Color, though I can clarify a few things for you.

First off, a 2nd viewing of the film is mandatory in my opinion, and took me from liking the movie to it being a masterpiece, and tons of little clues throughout jump out and click when you see it again.

Spoilers

The big aspect you guys didn’t really catch is what the audio recorder guy (“The Sampler” in the credits) is doing. On re-watch, it becomes clear that he’s actually able to look in on people’s lives, via their pigs. He’s sampling their life experiences, and uses this as inspiration for his music. You’ll note that in his earlier scenes he frustratedly throws out his sheet of music, then sits in on some of the people’s life stories (including a particularly tragic one where the victim’s wife doesn’t understand why he has all these emotional problems and commits suicide), then sits down, inspired, and starts composing music on his keyboard.

The other thing that clears up a lot on 2nd watch is how the characters are able to track down the Sampler at the end. Kris doesn’t directly remember her abduction/hypnosis or anything that happened to her, but subconsciously, she still has pieces of Thoreau’s “Walden” memorized, and as she’s swimming, she unknowingly says some of the lines she’s remembered. Carruth’s character isn’t sure what to make of it and writes down some of the lines, she finds that piece of paper and starts to remember what its from, and tracks down the book. Then when they’re doing a call and response, and she’s quoting more and more from the book, this starts to jog her memory of what happened when she was under, including going to the Sampler’s farm, and more importantly, the sound that drew her there (this is what the scene when she’s underwater in the pool signifies in my opinion).

So the two of them track down The Sampler’s recordings, and when they listen to them, they both recognize the sound that he played to draw them there in the first place. So they’re able to head out to where he lives, they find some of the places where he recorded the things on the discs and this also confirms that this is the right place, and finally they kill him.

Those are the big elements that make more sense on 2nd viewing, there’s also lots of nice small details, like how the first time Carruth starts telling the story about his family vacation, Kris stops eating and is clearly bothered by something (that something being that he’s actually telling her the story of HER family vacation), but she doesn’t say anything because she doesn’t want to freak him out.

In general it’s just a really touching story of two damaged people who’ve had their past stolen from them (she believes she was just crazy and takes anti-depressants now, he believes he must’ve been into hard-drugs and blames that on what happened) coming together and trying to find some peace, and are ultimately able to end this horrible cycle of victimization.

Sean

If you want some more background to THE LAST ACTION HERO then here is the Empire UK article about it from 2012:

http://www.empireonline.com/features/last-action-hero

Also, the ROD-NEY-KING chant you mentioned from Airheads was probably a riff/homage on Al Pacino’s AT-TI-CA crowd chant from DOG DAY AFTERNOON though I am gutted that Jay did not see and clarify this at the time. Greg was obviously Goat to Jay’s Pie-O-My and his performances have definitely being subpar since the schism in the House of Junk.

Ho-hum – Not to be!

Mike
Ireland

I love Walk the Line. I agree it’s typical biopic stuff but I have no problem with that. Awesome performances and just to be a fucking nitpick and correct Jay, the line she says is “you can’t walk no line” or something pretty close to that. =)

Last Action Hero = Amazing

Moulin Rouge is easily the best modern musical. That is all.

Can’t wait for the Star Trek podcast. Just saw Into Darkness last week and I ejoyed it a great deal. Don’t know why we’ve been getting some blockbusters before North America lately but it’s a welcome change.

I agree with everything Jay has to say about Texas Chainsaw 3D, except I thought all that weirdness actually made it more interesting than it would have been otherwise. It was like it was directed by someone who has never had an interaction with another human being. Blood above all else, indeed.

Sean, you should definitely watch Walk Hard.

From what I have heard about Gravity, both Bullock and Clooney are trapped in space. I can’t remember where I read that though

I need you guys to revisit Walk Hard. I didn’t care for it the first time, but it hit me hard the second time.

The music is amazing on its own, the acting is great (both comedy and drama), the satire is pitch-perfect to these lame music biopics, and the humor is just on another level.

Don’t bother with the extended cut, the theatrical version is pretty much perfect. It’s my #2 favorite comedy of all time.

“ROD-NEY KING! ROD-NEY KING!”
“Rodney King?”
“He’s that guy…”

I really disagree with this viewpoint that Upstream Color is somehow up its own ass, or overly cryptic. The only reason it comes off like that is that we’re used to constant hand-holding during movies, where characters constantly say out loud exactly what’s happening on screen. Well, why should that be the case? Film is a visual medium, why aren’t we exploiting that? I think UC is a brilliant example of visual storytelling, I think it’s consistently conveying its narrative beats through cutaways, or match-cuts, or insert shots. If an idea can be conveyed in a single sentence instead of 4, it’ll use a single sentence. More often than not it finds a way to show something with no dialogue at all (the entire climax). I don’t think it’s overly convoluted, in fact I’d say its elegantly straightforward, the whole movie is 90 minutes, and it doesn’t spend any more time with a given section than it has to. I think this really puts it a step above a lot of these more “experimental” films, because it never feels like its dragging, and even if you don’t click with it the 1st time through, it hasn’t wasted your time. I like Tree of Life a lot, but I think a lot of the negative reaction towards it from the average viewer was just due to how long it was, if it was 90 minutes I think people would’ve been much more open to it.

I’ve always viewed “Last Action Hero” as a guilty pleasure of mine. I know it’s hated by so many but I never found it that bad. That said, I haven’t seen it in years and years! I may think a bit differently now.

Thanks for the cast, guys. Really enjoying them of late…and I appreciated a little Reid and Nuno’s appearance last week too. Thanks

bullet3, the lack of hand holding isn’t the big deal, the problem is that UC is indeed so far up its own ass that it neglects its own characters in favor of design, to the extent that it’s not worth any emotional investment. It’s like trying to raise the perfect cow and cut the perfect steak, and then not bothering to cook it.

And then saying “It’s not up to me to cook it man, you have to put your mind to work at how much thought we put into that steak, and imagine how good it would taste if you cook it”. It’s here that Carruth combines the worst of mathematical detachment with the worst of hippie dippie artist statement (aka bullshit) excuses.

I also feel that the cinematography detracted from Upstream Color. It was too stylized. I would have rather this been shot more like Looper. More realistic. All the tilt shift photography just felt like fake artistic fluff in a film that shouldn’t rely on that at all.

Probably won’t hurt it, much like Primer, it’s not a movie that lives or dies by “knowing what happens next”, its not a Sixth Sense situation. It’s much more about the audio-visual experience of watching it (specifically the editing and music choices).
Carruth has compared it to a music album you come back to again and again, and that’s the way I like to view it.

The Netflix update is a great idea. Thanks!

I do not get the Shane Carruth acting criticism, to me that is like critiquing Ben Affleck’s performance in To the Wonder. I thought he played it smart, his character Jeff is marginal in the film, and given how fragmented the narrative style is, there is not a single scene longer than a minute where you even get a chance of seeing Carruth’s character talking let alone emoting. Is he acting wrong in his gestures? I just rewatched Primer and I think for a non-actor he knows how to cut around himself to let the ephemeral character of the movie overtake any blight to his style of acting. Not to mention in Upstream it is written into the role a degree of disorientation, any anxiety apparent to his acting transfers to the character, someone who has been psychologically victimized and outwardly fractured (that he plays off another character even more damaged again buffers any acting defect to be a consequence of being maladjusted). The story is not about their undying love, they are in service of the ideas, as were the characters in Primer.

Ya, the sound design is outstanding, especially in combination with his editing choices. He’ll cut into a scene in media-res, playing audio from the middle of the scene, while he’s cross-cutting the beginning and end of the scene, and the edits flow so well that you don’t even notice that’s what he’s doing unless you’re really looking for it.

A crucial bit of advice I got before watching Upstream Color was to just watch it and not try to figure it out. This allowed me to view it just as a sort of art film. I enjoyed the enigma of the plot, but I was mostly won over by the tone of the movie. While Prometheus is fun to puzzle over and try to work out all the plot details, I found it more enjoyable to just let Upstream Color happen and experience it.
I don’t think the cinematography is amazing, but I don’t dislike it either. Based on this and Primer it definitely doesn’t seem to be Carruth’s strong-suit. I didn’t mind his acting, however, since he isn’t really the main character. Both characters seem pretty muted so a non-actor for that role seems like a fine choice. Overall I most enjoyed the editing, one of the only aspects of filmmaking that Carruth split with someone else (an actual editor, presumably). Maybe that’s telling of how strong of an auteur Carruth actually is, but either way I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to checking it out again.
How did you watch it, Goon? I’m curious if a theater viewing vs. a VOD viewing would alter the experience at all.

I just came back to you guys reviewing The Great Gatsby after watching the movie.

I don’t know if any of you saw Australia, but I was hoping somebody did and would bring that movie up for comparison. Just like in The Great Gatsby, Australia’s first act is fairly comic with Luhrmann’s signature fast cuts and over-the-top performances, almost like a cartoon. Then the tone gets much more serious and the comedy evaporates from the film.
I felt the uneven tone was jarring in Australia and it’s jarring again in The Great Gatsby. Like Frank says, the only film where this actually works and works beautifully is Moulin Rouge. I think it’s because of the complete artifice and hyper-reality of that film which somehow allows it, and the fact that it’s a musical.