High-Rise (B-) Movie Review
High-Rise stars Tom Hiddleston as Dr. Robert Laing, a bachelor new to the High-Rise. Cautious about his move but looking for a new life, he takes room 2505 in the monstrous building which houses a tremendous amount of people and is quickly becoming the place-to-be in this dystopian/futuristic society. But class systems clash and life in the High-Rise becomes increasingly dangerous.
Adapted from J.G. Ballard's "classic" novel, High-Rise is something of a cinematic oddity. I put the word "classic" in quotation marks because although it's attained impressive cult status in its home country of Britain, the novel remains fairly unknown in the U.S.
The film opens with Dr. Laing cooking a dog's leg over an open fire. This serves as foreshadowing to the events that will follow, though the film isn't necessarily told in chronological order (this is not a spoiler). Though a nonlinear structure has become commonplace in films nowadays, this is not the only rule of conventional filmmaking that director Ben Wheatley breaks. Wheatley's disillusionment with conventional filmmakining may be the best part of his film.
But it is a bittersweet thing. As class systems in High-Rise struggle for power and collapse into themselves, Wheatley's filmmaking gets increasingly disjointed. Perhaps an interesting cinematic experiment, High-Rise can feel convoluted because of this daring. But Wheatley's refusal to incorporate a strong point-of-view or moral compass is fascinating. We are led through these scenes of debauchery, decadence, and perversion by a person who remains quite indifferent to it all, this person being Dr. Robert Laing.
Portraying a character who generally lives inside his own head, Tom Hiddleston delivers an excellent performance. He plays Dr. Laing with the kind of indifference his script requires but he injects subtle twinges of emotion that carry the ability to resonate where most of the film feels inhuman. There's simply a lack of genuine, raw, and human emotion in the film, though this quality doesn't necessarily work against High-Rise. The lack of humanity is also not the imply that High-Rise is mindless; it's simply less interested in character than it is in political, economic, and societal critique.
I can't speak as to whether Wheatley's politics are as sharp as J.G. Ballard's. Wheatley is effective at getting his point, the dangers of capitalism (marked by a frustratingly obvious speech by Margaret Thatcher at the very end), across albeit in a heavy-handed manner. It's not the film's greatest achievement, but at least you can't say the film has nothing on its mind. At the film's most impactful moments, it is demonstrating a primal, animalistic behavior that emerges when anarchy reigns, a disturbing reminder that humans can't (and never will be) tamed.
It may be best to treat High-Rise as a cinematic experiment: a film that disassembles itself whilst the society it depicts disassembles. Though an absorbing strategy, it does not always make for a compelling or cohesive watch. As the film delves headfirst into obscenity, it may lose you in its numbing sequences of rebellion amongst the poor and orgies amongst the rich.
Nevertheless, High-Rise is not a film one should disregard. I almost feel inclined to not assign the film a grade because that seems almost useless in this case. It is not a film meant purely for enjoyment but rather a clinical study of capitalism and the way in which it affects those suppressed underneath it. Though its politics aren't very pointed, Wheatley's excitingly intelligent direction and the film's haunting nature make High-Rise one of the more challenging features of the year. If only it operated as thrilling entertainment as it does cinematic deconstruction and a lavish portrait of human brutality.
FINAL GRADE: B-
MPAA RATING: R for violence, disturbing images, strong sexual content/graphic nudity, language and some drug use
Adapted from J.G. Ballard's "classic" novel, High-Rise is something of a cinematic oddity. I put the word "classic" in quotation marks because although it's attained impressive cult status in its home country of Britain, the novel remains fairly unknown in the U.S.
The film opens with Dr. Laing cooking a dog's leg over an open fire. This serves as foreshadowing to the events that will follow, though the film isn't necessarily told in chronological order (this is not a spoiler). Though a nonlinear structure has become commonplace in films nowadays, this is not the only rule of conventional filmmaking that director Ben Wheatley breaks. Wheatley's disillusionment with conventional filmmakining may be the best part of his film.
But it is a bittersweet thing. As class systems in High-Rise struggle for power and collapse into themselves, Wheatley's filmmaking gets increasingly disjointed. Perhaps an interesting cinematic experiment, High-Rise can feel convoluted because of this daring. But Wheatley's refusal to incorporate a strong point-of-view or moral compass is fascinating. We are led through these scenes of debauchery, decadence, and perversion by a person who remains quite indifferent to it all, this person being Dr. Robert Laing.
Portraying a character who generally lives inside his own head, Tom Hiddleston delivers an excellent performance. He plays Dr. Laing with the kind of indifference his script requires but he injects subtle twinges of emotion that carry the ability to resonate where most of the film feels inhuman. There's simply a lack of genuine, raw, and human emotion in the film, though this quality doesn't necessarily work against High-Rise. The lack of humanity is also not the imply that High-Rise is mindless; it's simply less interested in character than it is in political, economic, and societal critique.
I can't speak as to whether Wheatley's politics are as sharp as J.G. Ballard's. Wheatley is effective at getting his point, the dangers of capitalism (marked by a frustratingly obvious speech by Margaret Thatcher at the very end), across albeit in a heavy-handed manner. It's not the film's greatest achievement, but at least you can't say the film has nothing on its mind. At the film's most impactful moments, it is demonstrating a primal, animalistic behavior that emerges when anarchy reigns, a disturbing reminder that humans can't (and never will be) tamed.
It may be best to treat High-Rise as a cinematic experiment: a film that disassembles itself whilst the society it depicts disassembles. Though an absorbing strategy, it does not always make for a compelling or cohesive watch. As the film delves headfirst into obscenity, it may lose you in its numbing sequences of rebellion amongst the poor and orgies amongst the rich.
Nevertheless, High-Rise is not a film one should disregard. I almost feel inclined to not assign the film a grade because that seems almost useless in this case. It is not a film meant purely for enjoyment but rather a clinical study of capitalism and the way in which it affects those suppressed underneath it. Though its politics aren't very pointed, Wheatley's excitingly intelligent direction and the film's haunting nature make High-Rise one of the more challenging features of the year. If only it operated as thrilling entertainment as it does cinematic deconstruction and a lavish portrait of human brutality.
FINAL GRADE: B-
MPAA RATING: R for violence, disturbing images, strong sexual content/graphic nudity, language and some drug use