Together, two married couples have rented a boat for what's supposed to become a relaxing vacation. The experience turns out to be less happy and carefree than hoped for. The arrival of a helpful stranger seems to promise a turn for the better, but this is an idle hope...
I was rather surprised to learn that "Way upstream" was based on a theatre play, given that most of the action involves travels by boat. As a result the staging must comprise terrible technical challenges.
Anyway, "Way upstream" the television adaptation is quite well made. The acting, the locations, the props, the costumes, they're all admirable. By increments, the story gets more wild and more ominous, picturing a collective (or near-collective) descent into feral lunacy. Stuart Wilson is seriously disturbing as Vince, the charismatic but malevolent master of misrule.
So how to describe "Way upstream" best ? As a black comedy with touches of absurdity ? As a fantasy/horror about stranger danger, this time in an all-adult context ? As a cautionary tale about the primal savagery hiding in many a human breast ? I suppose that all of these descriptions apply. The movie can also be read as a satirical allegory about political life. Certainly the movie points out - accurately so - that despotism can come in various flavors. There's the despotism, for instance, that comes dressed in business suits, that flaunts gold watches and that speaks of law and order ; and then there's the despotism that wears jeans, that smokes self-grown weed and that celebrates parties, holidays and booze. Some types of tyranny thrive best in an environment of repression while others thrive best in an environment of anarchy, but they're all red in tooth and claw.
On a more immediate level, "Way upstream" contains a useful warning about knowledge equalling power. The people travelling on the boat fall under the intruder's spell mainly because they themselves are extremely bad at steering, to the point where they can't even navigate a lock safely. Their helplessness is further compounded by the intruder's deliberate destruction of a crucial instruction manual. There's a lesson here for everyone who wants to embark on an unusual expedition, be it a trip along Britain's waterways, a tour of French vineyards or a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. See to it that you come well-prepared, both with regard to intellectual comprehension and with regard to technical skill, so that you won't have to rely on the first random passerby...
Memorable.
I was rather surprised to learn that "Way upstream" was based on a theatre play, given that most of the action involves travels by boat. As a result the staging must comprise terrible technical challenges.
Anyway, "Way upstream" the television adaptation is quite well made. The acting, the locations, the props, the costumes, they're all admirable. By increments, the story gets more wild and more ominous, picturing a collective (or near-collective) descent into feral lunacy. Stuart Wilson is seriously disturbing as Vince, the charismatic but malevolent master of misrule.
So how to describe "Way upstream" best ? As a black comedy with touches of absurdity ? As a fantasy/horror about stranger danger, this time in an all-adult context ? As a cautionary tale about the primal savagery hiding in many a human breast ? I suppose that all of these descriptions apply. The movie can also be read as a satirical allegory about political life. Certainly the movie points out - accurately so - that despotism can come in various flavors. There's the despotism, for instance, that comes dressed in business suits, that flaunts gold watches and that speaks of law and order ; and then there's the despotism that wears jeans, that smokes self-grown weed and that celebrates parties, holidays and booze. Some types of tyranny thrive best in an environment of repression while others thrive best in an environment of anarchy, but they're all red in tooth and claw.
On a more immediate level, "Way upstream" contains a useful warning about knowledge equalling power. The people travelling on the boat fall under the intruder's spell mainly because they themselves are extremely bad at steering, to the point where they can't even navigate a lock safely. Their helplessness is further compounded by the intruder's deliberate destruction of a crucial instruction manual. There's a lesson here for everyone who wants to embark on an unusual expedition, be it a trip along Britain's waterways, a tour of French vineyards or a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. See to it that you come well-prepared, both with regard to intellectual comprehension and with regard to technical skill, so that you won't have to rely on the first random passerby...
Memorable.