cloudsorghosts

I saw Upstream at Sundance earlier this year and Shane Carruth gave a lengthy Q&A afterwards. I loved the film, both style and content, but it certainly won't be for everyone. The plot becomes somewhat inscrutable by the end and disintegrates into a kind of symbolic drift that I found intriguing but my partner hated. (Postmodern narrative disjunction, disintegration of stable identity and all that business. Yes it's been done before but not in this way, and the intrigue holds together until the last 20 minutes or so. I actually got the sense the film should have been about an hour longer, or possibly two parts in a series.) I love directors that take risks and put forward an idiosyncratic and clearly personal vision that will alienate some viewers while entrancing others. Not to mention the film is visually gorgeous from front to back.    I had no idea it was shot on the GH2; in fact, Carruth deflected multiple questions about the production (the theater was full of amateur dps, so this was their primary interest) preferring to focus on people's emotional/psychological reactions to the film, which was understandable. Apparently after Primer he was in talks for years with a big studio to make a $XXXmillion sci-fi feature based on a partial script he'd written, but found the process so tedious and soul-numbing he decided to walk away and make Upstream independently.   Despite his reticence I would definitely be curious to know more about his setup, GH2 hack, glass, etc, if this information is out there. One thing this film does is demonstrate the crucial importance of good sound work. The sound effects and mixing are phenomenal and play a large part in the storyline. Would also like to hear about the recording process for the film.