High-Rise
I wouldn't want to live there
I've found writing a review of Ben Wheatley's High Rise as much of a challenge as watching it. That should come as no surprise if you’re familiar with any of his previous work. If you’re not, rectify that at some point, and prepare yourself for uncomfortable viewing.High-Rise is a movie adaption of a book written by J.G. Ballard (which I have never read, and know nothing about) , and tells the tale of a 1970s future where we're living in tower blocks according to status (the higher up the block you are, the higher you are on the social ladder. But does position in the block designate status, or does status designate position?) Into this retro-future social strata we following the exquisite Tom Hiddleston playing Dr. Lang, who's attempting to start a new life, peeling back both the literal an metaphorical skin of himself ,his patients, and his new neighbours.The first half of the movie is a sterile clean, surgical introduction into life in the tower block, punctuated by Ben Wheatley's trade mark 'what the fuck?' moments. Beautifully framed shots, teetering, subtle performances from the likes of Sienna Miller and young Louis Suc (playing her son), all tease the simmering tension to boiling point.
Wheatley clearly also knows how to employ music to great effect in his movies. Soundtrack auteur Clint Mansell creates all the pompous self-grandeur and hustle and bustle of an industrious and perfectly imagined seventies future of smoking cigarettes and playing squash. And when it's time to start creeping you out, his score does so on an almost unconscious level.There’s a tipping point in this movie, both narratively, and creatively. Once the story goes over the edge, so does the film, and it doesn’t quite ever manage to pull itself back. Are some of the shots now just a bit too gratuitous? Are some of the performances too over the top? Is some of the imagery just a bit too lurid? Have I connected with any of the characters enough to care? Or is that the point? Or am I making excuses for a movie that just didn't nail it and becomes a jumbled confusing excuse for controversial cinema?There's a constant balancing act that this movie plays, and sometimes it leaves a gaping, exposed hole in its post-apocalyptic middle. It deals with some pretty heavy subject matter. Capitalism, socialism, class and social structure, government, objectification and misogyny, masculinity and femininity, are all placed under the kaleidoscope, and I whole heartedly applaud the 'message' of the movie as a whole, which will leave you wondering who were the real architects of the High-Rise? For me, however, there's something slightly unfulfilling about the experience, and maybe that's the intent.
I’d quite happily consider taking a stay at the High-Rise, but I wouldn't want to live there, and I'm not sure I'd even want to return for a second visit.
