High-Rise
(2015)Welcome to the high life...
Tom Hiddleston leads this retro-futuristic, dystopic thriller directed by Ben Wheatley (Kill List) about a gigantic high-rise building that descends into primal chaos when a class war breaks out. Co-stars Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller (American Sniper) and Elisabeth Moss (Top of the Lake). Based on the novel by the awesome J.G. Ballard.
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Directed by Ben Wheatley
Starring Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, Elisabeth Moss, Reece Shearsmith, Peter Ferdinando, Daniel Renton Skinner, James Purefoy
Written by Amy Jump (based on the novel by J.G. Ballard)
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High-Rise
BY cinemusefilm superstar
Based on the novel by JG Ballard, the film is set in a 1970s high-rise tower designed by eminent architect Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons). The floors are rigidly hierarchical like the train carriages in the film Snowpiercer (2013) where rich people have the best facilities and poor people endure the worst. The film's protagonist is the newly-arrived Dr Robert Laing (Tom Huddleston) who has fled London city for self-contained high-rise living to avoid other people. He qualifies for the 25th level of the 40 floor building and his middle class status means he is sneered at from above and despised from below.
When Laing's romantic interests cross class boundaries, resident bully boys unleash havoc. Adding to chaos, the building's water and power supply problems affect the lower-floors and when food runs out residents eat dog food and pets become victims. Class tensions flare with suicides, bashings, killings, drugs and public fornication in this insular world surrounded by desolate concrete car parks. Like in Lord of the Flies, without civilisation there is barbarism and without the apparatus of law and order the haves must defend their privileges from the have-nots. In the film’s closing minutes Margaret Thatcher's voice proclaims that only capitalism can provide true political freedom.
Remaining faithful to a book imposes creative constraints but in this case less may have been more. Many scenes are so frenzied that it is impossible to make sense of who is doing what to whom. The bleakly dark filming palette adds to the disorientation with frequent flashbacks and scene merges leaving the viewer unsure of the boundaries between reality, dreams, hallucinations and fantasy. If that is the director's intention, then it works well. The two main characters play strong roles, with Huddleston providing a nuanced fusion of intellect, curiosity and madness, while the legendary Jeremy Irons needs only to play himself in depicting the rattled brilliance of an upper-class landlord. Disturbingly provocative rather than enjoyable, it is an interesting film with a heavy-handed message.Hide
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The Press Reviews
63%
of critics recommend.
Rotten Tomatoes Score. More reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Wheatley has made High Rise his story, instead of Ballard’s. That’s fine – but, unfortunately, it’s a less interesting take. Full Review
Rarely have so many classy ingredients added up to such a muted, muddled, multi-story mess. Full Review
Ballard’s concept is meticulously, lovingly recreated, like a museum exhibit of itself. Full Review
What began as a self-contained allegory on open class warfare becomes a showcase for stylistic anarchy, wherein the ensuing orgy of sex and violence serves to justify a near-total breakdown of cinematic form. Full Review
Some of the scenes are eye-popping, and the editing and soundscape are expertly done for the budget. Wheatley and the cast are clearly having fun, and you will too, in a grisly kind of way. Full Review
On screen, "High-Rise" is curiously inert. The themes don't resonate, and the story lags and lumbers. Full Review
"High-Rise" is a stubborn, incoherent wreck of a movie, and I mean that as fairly high praise. You won't follow everything that happens, but you may feel weirdly at home. Full Review
The movie ultimately feels both too glib and too hermetically sealed to resonate beyond its chaotic interiors. Full Review
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